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SVNServe Vs Apache

Posted At : August 2, 2006 9:36 PM | Posted By : Rob Gonda
Related Categories: Subversion

SVN, short for Subversion, is a source control system similar to CSV, but IMHO better. Anyways, it is extremely simple to install the server, for Windows or Linux servers. SVN will take care of versioning, but if you need to serve it over IP you must use an additional tool, SVNServe and Apache being the two main (only?) choices.

If you have to choose one, here are a few points to take into consideration.

Both work with Windows and Linux
SVNServe for Windows allows to serve a single repository; SVNServe for Linux allows unlimited
Apache allows to serve unlimited repositories in both OS.
svn1clicks allows to fully install SVN + SVNServe in Windows
SVNServe runs on port 3690, Apache runs on port 80
Apache allows to run encrypted SVN over HTTPS -- port 443
Apache allows to authenticate against an htpassword file, ldap, or other methods. SVNServe uses a clear text passwd file.
SVNServe and Apache allow per repository authentication, including None, R, or RW. Apache allows per folder access restrictions too.
Apache requires to restart/reload configuration everytime a change is made. SVNServe picks it up automatically.

Those are the main points I can think of right now, there may be more, so please share your personal experience.

I have two setups at the moment, one running SVN+SVNServe for Linux, and the other is SVN+Apache in a Windows box. In fact, this box is running IIS6 and Apache with no conflicts, which you can accomplish by either having multiple IPs, or assigning a special port for Apache.

My client tools are TortoiseSVN and SubEclipse. I tried SVN Ant a couple of times, but I gave up... running SVN in the command line with Ant.

posted on August 2, 2006 at 9:36 PM by Rob Gonda