Subversion FundamentalsSubversion Fundamentals

Quentin HartmanQuentin HartmanConcentric Sky, IncConcentric Sky, Inc

March 17th, 2009March 17th, 2009Eugene IT Pro ForumEugene IT Pro Forum

My name is Quentin Hartman and I will be giving anintroduction to version control with Subversion tonight. Iam a system administrator with Concentric Sky here inEugene. We offer web development and applicationconsulting services with with a focus on emergingtechnologies like social media and the iPhone.This presentation is a reduced version of a 3 hour trainingseminar that I developed. The biggest difference is that Iwill be skipping the live demos and the in-depth tool-specific conversation. Instead I will be focusing on coreconcepts. My hope is that after this presentation you willhave enough of a framework to dig in on your own andstart realizing the benefits of using a VCS in your ownprojects.

Core ConceptsCore Concepts

Version Control Systems. Lots of different names, samebasic concepts. Repositories containing a set of files, andoptionally, and a set (or sets) of files which representdifferent branches of development or released versions of files.Everyone agrees using a VCS of some kind is a good idea.Why?

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Track changes over time, and roll back changes if needed

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Maintain old versions of code

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Coordinate distributed, parallel development by manypeople.

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Communication!!!

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Act as a simple ”just in time backup” of an individualcoders' work.Virtually all VCS systems share some common concept:repos, branches, and tags

ReposRepos

Essentially just a group of files that are ostensibly related toeach other. Sometimes they all belong to the sameproject, sometimes they are worked on by the sameteam, sometimes they are owned by the same person or company. The logical grouping is entirely up to you.Most people say that a repo contains at least a ”trunk”. The”trunk” is typically the main contents of the repo. In CVSthis was called ”head”, and is often considered to be the”latest and greatest” of whatever is in the repo.