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On the SVN Windows binaries download page, there are a few to choose from:

http://subversion.tigris.org/getting.html#windows

Are there pros and cons to the different versions provided by the different organizations? Is there anything I should look out for?

Mainly, I just want something free that I will be running off my Vista laptop. Then I will probably do backups of the SVN files from time to time to an external hard drive.

TELunus
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John B
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7 Answers7

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We chose VisualSVN bec it makes it easy to use windows authentication instead of having a separate SVN user.

Other benefits is an easy to use GUI for permission management and for managing SVN hooks.

The one thing I'm not a real fan of is the web GUI. As far as I know you cannot view web based diffs, so if that makes a difference....

Nick
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tikotzky
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My friends who run a Windows shop speak highly of VisualSVN

Greg Hewgill
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Cody Caughlan
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I've just configured win32svn server according to this article by Jeff Atwood.

In contrast to VisualSVN win32svn is not so tightly integrated to Windows, orientated on terminal usage and open sourced under Apache License.

ilyaigpetrov
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7

All of these solutions setup the standard Apache HTTPD server with Subversion integration. They do no real magic.

UberSVN and VisualSVN provide a pretty front end interface, but behind the scenes, it's just standard Apache setup. If you are not a CM, and don't want that to be your job, that's not a bad alternative. However, do not ever try to tweak the configuration behind their backs. They will either revert the changes, or really mess things up.

However, I use Apache httpd in order to access my Windows Active Directory. I setup my users, so their Windows account and password are their Subversion account and password. I setup a Active Directory Security Group or a Active Directory Exchange Group as my authorization database. If a user is a member of this group, they have access to the repository via their Windows login. If not, they don't have access. Clean and simple. I am no longer in the user authorization business which gives me more time to play Candy Crush ..I mean.. other CM work.

Otherwise, I might as well just use svnserve: It's faster than Apache httpd, much easier to setup, and more stable too.

If you're not going to use Active Directory as your authorization backend, you are technical, and don't mind getting your hands a bit dirty, I would use either play svnserve (and set it up as a Windows Service. No need for any of these packages.

If you are going to use Active Directory as your authorization backend (and why not?), I would use CollabNet Subversion Edge to help setup Apache httpd and Subversion and do all of my configuration manually. Setting up Active Directory via LDAP via Apache httpd isn't really that difficult, and once done, you probably never have to touch again. The documentation on integrating Apache httpd/Subversion/LDAP/ActiveDirectory can easily be found.

I suggest you look at the on line Subversion Documentation and go through it. If thinking about using the svn command line client makes you woozy, then get VisualSVN or UberSVN and let them take care of things for you. If you don't mind going all 1990 with your computer, then forget about the pretty front ends, and use CollabNet Edge.

One more thing, I am not a fan of ViewVC that comes with CollabNet Edge. It has to use file:// protocol and must run on the same server as your Subversion server software. Instead, I prefer Sventon. It can run on a separate server, and you can use the same credentials as your standard Subversion credentials. Plus, I like the interface a bit better.

Community
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David W.
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  • @DavidKEgghead, SmartSVN is a client. UberSVN is a **discontinued product**. – bahrep Jul 28 '14 at 13:58
  • UberSVN is dead for more than a year already but Wandisco announced it just recently AFAIK http://www.wandisco.com/changed-direction – bahrep Jul 28 '14 at 13:59
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Putting in a vote for CollabNet Subversion Edge, it's dead simple to set up and administer via a web frontend. I'm comfortable editing config files if I must, especially coming from a Linux environment, but it's nice not to be required to do so - CollabNet makes that easy.

andersop
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We use an Apache SSPI module with the Collab.Net subversion server.

Has worked perfectly for us.

John Gietzen
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Try UberSVN http://www.wandisco.com/ubersvn/download#windows The only downside is that is requires lot of server memory. Best free SVN server I ever tried. VisualSVN free version is OK as well.

Andre
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