RapidSVN

Data: 2005.04.08-

Disclaimer

I have started to write this documentation on 2005 Arpil 8. There are more bits and pieces than real documentation so take it easy.
$LastChangedDate: 2007-05-25T14:50:07.367303Z $
$Rev: 3872 $
Copyright Gabor Szabo
Latest version can be found at: http://www.szabgab.com/articles/rapidsvn.html

This documentation is being written based on the following versions:

• RapidSVN 0.7.1 on Microsoft Windows downloaded from here
• RapidSVN 0.7.2 on Fedora 3 downloaded from DAG

I am mainly using the one on Fedora so most of the text is based on that version.

Download and Installaton

You can download binary distributions for Debian, Red Hat and Microsoft Windows from the RapidSVN web site. Fedora Core and other Red Hat binary packages are available from DAG.

The Windows version is self installing while on Linux you will be able to use your local package manager to retrive and install the pre-packaged binary version.

In case you don't find a binary version for your platform you can try to build one from source. Source tarballs of the released version can be found here. Instruction on how to build it are inside.

Quick Start

After installing the self extractable executable you can start the application by clicking on the RapidSVN icon or by typing rapidsvn on your command line.

If you already have a checked-out version of some repository

you can start using RapidSVN with this working copy:

1. Right click on Bookmarks
2. Select "Add Existing Working Copy..."
3. Locate the directory where you have already checked out a repositry
4. Press OK

First we take a look at how to use RapidSVN with an already existing repository. For this we have a publicly available repository at http://svn.pti.co.il/svn/test/

Later we'll learn how to setup our own repository and work with that

1. Right click on Bookmarks
2. Select "Checkout New Working Copy..."
3. • In URL type in the address of the Repository you want to work with
     (e.g. type in http://svn.pti.co.il/svn/test/trunk/ )
   • In Destination directory type the local directory where you want to work:
     (e.g. c:\patch\test or /home/gabor/patch/test )
   • Press OK. (For now don't worry about the 3 check boxen and the Revision box.
   If you selected a repository that is protected by username/password then you'll be asked to supply this information now. (in our example the username is "anonymous" while the passowrd should be left empty)
   The application then goes and checks out the latest version of each file from the selected repostory.

Now that you already have a working copy of a repository you can locate it on your hard disk. Select one of the files, open it with your regular text editor (notepad, vi, emacs or whatever you like to use). Make some changes (e.g. add a comment to the file)

Going back to RapidSVN windows you

Configuration

Linux

• gvim
• gvimdiff

The problem with usingg gvim and gvimdiff is that when the the file is already open for editing by gvim you cannot diff it without the annoying warning of gvim.
Naturally if you prefer to use other editors and diff tools you can do that too.

Microsoft Windows

• notepad

Authentication

RapidSVN is partially using the authentication methods and files of the command line Subversion tool. If you have already used the command line SVN tools and authenticated with a Subversion server your username and password are kept in ~/.subversion/auth/ This means in Linux it keeps the username and password information somewhere in in clear text format. You can change this behavior in ...(pointer to SVN book)

Other

• Bookmarks
  Bookmarks are either pointing to local work directories or directly to Subversion repositories. They allow you to browse into the directory tree of either the working copy or the real repository. They provide the basic method to access your files using RapidSVN.

Command line to RapidSVN transition

Especially for people whom are already familiar with the command line Subversion client, below you can find a mapping from some of the CLI commands to the relevant actions in RapidSVN.

• svn status
• svn diff
  • Ctr-
• svn log
  • Ctr-
• svn update
  • Menu: Modify/Update
  • Ctr-u
  • Right-click on file, directory or Bookmark/Update
• svn add
  • Ctr-
• svn move
  • Ctr-
• svn delete
  • Ctr-
• svn checkout
  • Menu: Repostirory/Checkout
  • Ctr-o
  • Right-click on Bookmarks/Checkout New Working Copy...
• svn commit
  • Menu:
  • Ctr-m (does not seem to work in my Linux)
  • Right-click: Update

FAQ

I am not sure I can consider this really Frequently Asked Questions as I just try to collect the questions that came up on the RapidSVN mailing list.

• What is the relation of RapidSVN and regular Subversion client ?
  RapidSVN is basically a Subversion client implementation (using the already available libraries). It provides a similar set of features with a graphical interface.
• How can I see remote status of a file ?
  There is a switch in the "View" menu called "Refresh with Update"

See also

• Subversion UI Shootout
• RapidSVN web site, mailing lists
• RapidSVN Wiki