Getting started with subversion

Question

Duplicate of..:

• Version Control. Getting started…
• How do I begin using SVN?
• SVN installation
• Best SVN Tools
• Subversion plugin to Visual Studio?
• Good Visual Studio SVN Tool
• How do I convince my team to drop sourcesafe and move to SVN?

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We are currently using SourceSafe integrated with Visual Studio and with the continuous comments about how bad SourceSafe apparently is, I've decided that we should try moving to Subversion.

The problem is, having not used anything but SourceSafe, I need to get started somewhere and need some direction.

What software do I need to download and install? Server? Client?

What do I need to install the software on? Windows 2003?

Should I have a dedicated server or is an existing file server adequate?

How quickly will developers get up to speed? Is the integration similar enough to just carry on as normal?

Answer 1

Get your developers to read the free online Red-Bean Book. It's excellent, and covers all aspects of the process, including probably the best description of branching you'll find anywhere.

Answer 2

I found the Pragmatic Programmer's Pragmatic Guide to Subversion extremely helpful with this exact scenario.

http://www.pragprog.com/titles/svn2/pragmatic-version-control-using-subversion

There are a number of integration tools - TortoiseSVN is a good one for file system level control. I didn't get too into Visual Studio integration, but I hear good things about AnkhSVN.

Using an existing server is probably fine for now. The SVN server can run on any Windows platform.

Highly worth the time to learn to get away from SourceSafe.

Good luck!