Getting past first base with TortoiseSVN

OK, I've been convinced that SVN is the way to go in a previous posting, but I haven't yet seen the epiphany. I'm not sure how I would set SubVersion up for my development environment.

Here's my current setup. I'm not keen to mess with it and it would be really nice if subversion could sit alongside it:

Work:

N:\Projects

N:\Projects\Lib

N:\Projects\App1

N:\Projects\App1\Help

N:\Projects\App1\Images

N:\Projects\App2

..etc

N: is on a separate server in the building.

There are several other development machines with the tools installed locally, but all development takes place referencing the files on the server - i.e. no source code is kept on the workstations.

Home

Laptop with same development toolset, and the sources in c:\Projects\App1.. etc, i.e. a mirror of the setup on n:\Projects at work.

The sources between N:\Projects and C:\Project are currently kept aligned with a custom app in conjunction with DropBox. File exclusions make sure that non-source files don't get sync'ed

I want to run SubVersion with this setup.

• Where do I put the Repository?
• Assuming I can have the repository in a mutually accessible place, will SVN remove the current need to sync between work and home?

In order to embrace Subversion, you will replace your shared source directory with a Subversion repository that lives on the server. Each developer workstation will check out a copy of the whole source code locally (however, this could be a private area on a network server if you like).

You could retain your N:\Projects tree as a read-only copy of the daily build, or whatever. But one of the goals of Subversion is to mediate between two people editing the same file at roughly the same time. This is not compatible with a shared directory containing writable source code. Also, having multiple developers "share" the same Subversion working directory in some way is doomed to failure.

Why not create an internet accessible (free) trial Subversion account, and play around a bit, to get yourself familiar, before you move your entire source code tree into it. Just so you don't delete everything you own, by accident. Maybe start with one dummy project. Host something on the internet. Without even paying a cent, you could use this site:

http://www.projectlocker.com/

Then you can set up your very own starter subversion server. You can create a brand new Delphi application (file -> new delphi application), and add a button, and double click that button, and write a message box thingy, or whatever it is you like to do in demo apps. Now create a subversion repository (perhaps they call them projects, up on project locker), and add the folders you saved this project into, to that repository.

Now you can play with (a) tortoise SVN, (b) the SVN integration build into Rad Studio XE, if you have Rad Studio XE, and (c) the version control plugins that come in the JCL, if you don't have Rad Studio XE.

Also, may I suggest that if you want to have any hope of knowing what you're doing you learn how to add and commit, and update, from the command line. It's really not that hard. And it will pay off later.

Knowing you can type svn co http://reposite.something.com/svn/myproject to check out a project to your disk, is very handy. Sometimes, I think GUIs are training wheels for your brain. You cripple yourself if you don't learn command lines.

A benefit to a hosted subversion service like the one I showed above, is that you have an offsite backup. Of course, such hosting is always free even for large projects, if you are writing something open source. Then you can host on sourceforge. Otherwise, you're going to (a) need to use your own internet accessible host or (b) pay for hosting, otherwise you're not going to be able to easily access your repository at home, and at work.

Personally, if it was my own business, or my professional job to write software, I would host my own subversion server, and it would be private (LAN) only, and I would use a VPN to access it from home.

1: You definitely want a repository accessible from both locations. Either that, you you will need to use a distributed versioning system, like Mercurial or Git

2: Yes, there will be no more need for your custom sync app. This is exactly the job for your versioning system. Syncing manually in addition to using SVN is not necessary and would even create lots of conflicts.

1. Your shared directory should be removed and a copy of the code present on each machine that is a working copy of the SVN repository.
2. Use your server with the files to place the SVN server on it or any server that all including your home computer have access to.
3. Commit / Update every day, multiple time a day and manage merges if needed .

For the home access the simplest is to either get a dedicated server on the net or redirect the correct port on your router (but you will obviously need some access control in place) so that your repository is accessible from outside. If needed you could limit access from your home IP or from a list of IPs with a good router.

The other solution as other said is another kind of version system called "distributed" where every commit is done locally in your own repository on your own PC and this repository is merged on the "main" repository to share code and the change of other members of the team are pulled back in your local repository (You don't need any "main" repository technically on a DVCS but for a company that's what you will have).

See Git or Mercurial for good DVCS (Git syntax sucks but it's the most widely used system and technically the best one).

1. Put the repository in the safest place. That usually means a good redundant server (disks, etc.), in a controlled server room, and one which is properly backed up. When you switch to a VCS, source code to work on is typically in local machines sandboxes, because each developer must have its own. Then changes are get and sent to/from the server. Be aware that some tools may have issue is on a remote directory, because of the way for example the SMB protocol works - check they are supported explicitly if you need to use them. Unless you have paramount security needs, IMHO working in local sanboxes is faster and easier.
2. If you can access the SVN server from home (i.e. via a VPN), it will be not different than working from the office. You will "sync" (update/commit) your laptop sandbox the same way, you don't need a local server and repository. If you need a local server (reason could be you can't access the central repository from outside, need to work disconnected yet version files, etc.) there could be ways to replicate across SVN servers, but at that point maybe a distributed VCS should work better in such scenario.