Subversion Hints

Well, actually some Subversion/TortoiseSVN/Trac hints.

I find the TortoiseSVN repository brower clunky. In fact, I often find it quicker when checking out a repository to find the path first with the svn web interface, and then cut and paste the path into the TortoiseSVN SVN Checkout dialog.

For browsing source, I normally use Trac’s Browse Source instead of the svn web interface. It has syntax highlighting for many programming languages and it’s easy to see the differences between revisions. If I need a quick look at code that I haven’t checked out (different project or older revision) on computer I’m using, I use Trac.

One neutral feature is that svn stores its information in hidden .svn directories. So, if you copy a svn working project from computer A to computer B, svn knows right away where the repository is, etc. If you delete the .svn directories, the project is effectively no longer under version control.

But, if you have a large directory tree, and need to get rid of the subversion information (to package up for an installer, etc), then all those .svn directories are a pain. I wrote a Python script to recurse through all the project subdirectories and remove them.

Tony

Related posts:

1. Trac and Subversion sites are up
2. Easier ways to install Subversion and Trac
3. devsn Subversion tool added
4. Version Control for Automation Developers
5. Trends to use – Open Source Software