Subversion Clients¶
There are a number of free clients available for working with SVN repositories.
You can view and download the contents of your repository here within EDN by clicking on the 'Repository' link.
It is cumbersome to download or view individual files, so Design Lab recommends 'checking out' a copy of your Repository onto your computer.
To put files into the repository, you will need a client.
Windows¶
The recommended client for Windows is Tortoise, downloads and information can be found at: https://tortoisesvn.net/. Be sure to install the right version, the 32bit version will NOT run on a 64 bit Windows system.
Another tool called "Commit Monitor" is also available from the Tortoise site. It lets you monitor your repository for commits made by your team.
If you want to use the svn commands rather than the GUI, you must choose "command line client tools" when TortoiseSVN is installed. For more information, see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2341134/command-line-svn-for-windows
MacOS¶
snailsvn lite¶
This is their free version. It works more like Tortoise does for Windows. It is available thru the Apple App store.
SmartSVN¶
An alternative for users with the Monterey release of the Mac OS is to use the free version of SmartSVN (https://www.smartsvn.com/). Please note that we have no experience nor training material for this. Your PE or team mates can help if you are having trouble working out the proper URL for your team's repo.
This is free for education users. It will start as an evaluation copy, then request registration. Register and request for free educational license at https://www.syntevo.com/register-non-commercial/#academic. If you are unable to get the free license, please let us know!
svnx¶
Warning 9/19/2023 - While svnx may still be available, it appears that it is only compatible with older versions of the OS, in spite of what the hosting web page might state. If you try it and it crashes, please use one of the alternatives.
For MAC OS X, UNTIL the Monterey version, students have successfully used svnx which is an open source software tool. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get svnx to work on the Monterey release (12.0) of the Mac OS.
If you still wish to try, instructions for downloading and using svnx can be found here. Note that you may have to adjust your security settings to allow download and installation of the software.
Command line¶
The fallback is to install the command line subversion utility. A very limited set of commands are needed for Capstone.
These steps are to be done ONCE in your terminal window:
- Determine which folder on your Mac is where you want to place your repository.
- Use the cd command to move to that folder
- Use the following command to do the checkout. Note the period at the end is required.
svn checkout https://designlab.eng.rpi.edu/svn2/<your project identifier>/working .
- Wait till that finishes. The repo is now on your Mac and can be accessed via finder.
- Use the cd command to move to that folder
- Use the following command to do the update.
- svn update
- Wait till that finishes. The repo is now updated on your Mac and can be accessed via finder.
- Use the cd command to move to that folder
- Use the following command to do the commit. Note the message explaining why you made changes is required.
- svn commit -m "reason for making changes to the repo"
- Wait till that finishes. The repo is updated in the cloud and your team mates can have access to your changes when they update.
If you have trouble executing these commands, please reach out to Mark Anderson during his office hours for support.
Linux¶
For Linux, the recommended client is RabbitVCS which can be downloaded from: http://www.rabbitvcs.org/. Installation instructions for Ubuntu can be found here: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/rabbitvcs-easy-version-control-for-linux.html.
For those who prefer the command line, the required commands are documented in the Mac section of this page.