Change Management

How to copy Subversion repositories to another server

1. Ensure you have a working Subversion installation with Apache installed on your system.
2. On the source machine, dump each repository:

   > svnadmin dump /path/to/repository > repository-name.dmp

3. Copy repository-name.dmp to the target server.
4. Load the repository into the new server:

   > cd /path/to/new-repository
   > svnadmin create repository-name
   > svnadmin load repository-name < repository-name.dmp
   

5. Reassign apache permissions:

   > chown -R apache.apache repository-name

6. You are now ready to begin using your repository on the new server!

How to install Subversion with Apache HTTPD

1. Ensure you have Apache installed on your system.
2. Ensure you have mod_dav_svn installed:

   > yum -y update mod_dav_svn

3. Edit /etc/httpd/conf.d/subversion.conf and append the following lines to the end of your config file:

   <Location /svn>
   DAV svn
   SVNParentPath /var/svn
   AuthType Basic
   AuthName "Subversion repository"
   AuthUserFile /etc/svn-auth-file
   AuthzSVNAccessFile /etc/svnserve.conf
   Require valid-user
   </Location>
   

4. Create a file called /etc/svn-auth-file
   Assign permission:

   > chown root.root /etc/svn-auth-file
   > chmod 644 /etc/svn-auth-file

5. Add users to /etc/svn-auth-file (one per line) in the form:
   tom:$apr1$hDMIx…$abctozvZbC9J6/heHBBe481You can use htpasswd to do this automatically:

   > ### First time: use -cm to create the file
   > ### Use -m to use MD5 encryption of the password, which is more secure
   > htpasswd -m /etc/svn-auth-file harry
   New password: *****
   Re-type new password: *****
   Adding password for user harry
   > htpasswd /etc/svn-auth-file -m sally
   New password: *******
   Re-type new password: *******
   Adding password for user sally
   >

6. Create a file called /etc/svnserve.conf
   Fill it with:

   [/]
   *=
   svnUser=rw

   The user svnUser is being granted read and write access to all projects, while all other users (*) are being denied access.

7. Assign permissions:

   > chown root.apache /etc/svnserve.conf
   > chmod 640 /etc/svnserve.conf

8. Create /var/svn.

   > mkdir -p /var/svn
   > chmod 755 /var/svn

9. If you are running SELinux, run:

   > chcon -R -h -t httpd_sys_content_t /var/svn

10. You are now ready to being adding Subversion repositories!