Revision as of 00:18, 29 March 2006

SVN repository access for developers

This page is for open-bio affiliated developers who are making use of SVN based version control systems rather than the traditional CVS based systems.

Access methods

svnserve operates in tunnel mode only

For security and access control reasons we are not running a daemonized svnserver process or allowing access via HTTP through the Apache mod_DAV/svn module methods. The SVN access method that fits best with our current developer and security model is to run svnserver in "tunnel" mode on a per-user basis. This means developers will connect and authenticate via encrypted SSH sessions before svnserver is invoked. In this scenario svnserver is launched in tunnel mode and runs as the user who invoked it.

The SVN client protocol makes multiple connections to the svnserver binary. Since we only allow access via SSH this means you may be prompted for you developer password several times during any SVN action, including a simple checkout. The easiest way to remove the multiple password prompts is to set up your ssh-agent process or make use of SSH keypairs for passwordless access via public key encryption. For assistance in setting this up, email the OBF Helpdesk at support at open-bio.org.

Public SVN Access

Not implemented yet. We will set up a standalone anonymous SVN server for public read-only access to hosted repositories. It will function the same way that http://code.open-bio.org currently provides anonymous CVS and RSYNC access to the public. It is highly likely, in fact, that when we deploy public SVN access it will be via http://code.open-bio.org.

Hosted repositories

blipkit

Blipkit developer access is achieved only via an SSH tunnel:

svn checkout svn+ssh://dev.open-bio.org/home/svn-repositories/blipkit/trunk blipkit

Additional SVN documentation

Version Control with SVN