JavaPipe offers a free subversion repository with its Java Tomcat hosting packages. This repository allows you to share code with other developers making remote collaboration possible. Subversion is not included by default. You will need to select it when ordering your JAVA hosting package or request it later.
What is Subversion
Subversion or SVN for short is an open source application used for version control. Subversion is designed specifically to be a modern replacement for CVS and shares a number of the same key developers. CVS was the defacto standard for sometime and there was a need for an alternative to compensate for some of CVS's shortcomings. Many developers still prefer CVS, but due to SVN's fast growing popularity, we felt it was the best choice to bundle it with our JAVA hosting packages.
Visit the Subversion website for more information
Key Features
CVS features: Subversion is meant to be a better CVS, so it has most of CVS's features. Generally, Subversion's interface to a particular feature is similar to CVS's, except where there's a compelling reason to do otherwise.
Atomic commits: Commits are truly atomic operations. Interrupted commit operations do not cause repository inconsistency or corruption.
Everything is Versioned: Directories, renames, and file meta-data are versioned and symbolic links
WebDAV: Subversion can use the HTTP-based WebDAV protocol for network communications, and the Apache web server to provide repository-side network service. Files can be opened directly from the repository by WebDAV clients and saved back to the repository. Recent versions of Microsoft Office can use this functionality. (Introduced at Subversion V1.2)
Efficient branching and tagging: Branching and tagging are cheap (constant time) operations.
Using Subversion at Java|Pipe
To use Subversion with your JAVA hosting package, you will need to have requested it when you sign up or request it later by submitted a ticket to the support desk.
Once setup, you can access your repository as http://www.yourdomain.com/svn/repository where repository is your actual project.
First thing that you will need to do is setup a user and password to secure your repository using command line and .htpasswd.
- Log into you account using SSH and cd to yourdomain.com/svn
- Create your htpasswd file and first user by issuing the command:
htpasswd -cm .htpasswd username(-c is for creating the first .htpasswd file) - After you have created your htpasswd file, you can use the following command for adding new users:
htpasswd -m .htpasswd username(change username to whatever you want, -m is for MD5 algorithm for passwords. You don't need to use -c since .htpasswd has already been created.) - You will then be prompted to set a password.
Second thing you need to do to get the project going is to connect to your SVN using your JAVA IDE such as IntelliJ, eclipse or any Subversion client and create a directory. This directory will be your project so you'll want to name it accordingly.
Once you created a directory, check it out using your Subversion client and then add project files to it from your local machine and commit it back to the repository.
After you have done the above step - you can start checking out files and committing them back to the repository. You will need to do this for every folder you create.
Current Limitations
- You cannot create your own repositories as the repository must be owned by Apache to work correctly.
- User permission control is currently limited to one level.
If you don't have a Java host yet, follow this link for more information about our JAVA Hosting packages. You'll enjoy the flexibility and the tools we provide to make your life as a developer easier.
