Missing / in Unix file URL https://subversion.apache.org/quick-start

[Steven Kelly]

Trying to set up a local serverless SVN repository on Linux, I was initially stumped by the URL format, because of a typo in the quick-start guide. The https://subversion.apache.org/quick-start guide shows a file URL without a server name and just two initial slashes (Terminology: What is a repository):

Direct access (Unix-style): file://var/svn/repos/MyRepo/MyProject/tags/1.1.0

The URL should have three initial slashes:
Direct access (Unix-style): file:///var/svn/repos/MyRepo/MyProject/tags/1.1.0

Two slashes don't work, at least not on svn 1.10.2 (r1835932) on Fedora 28 4.17.9-200.fc28.x86_64

Cheers,
Steve [Not subscribed, CC appreciated]

[Paul Hammant]

Not answering your question, but could you explain more about your
'serverless' use - sounds intriguing.

- Paul

[Steven Kelly]

Post by Paul Hammant
Not answering your question, but could you explain more about your
'serverless' use - sounds intriguing

The idea is to do the simplest SVN example that could possibly work.
Since TortoiseSVN on Windows can work without a server for a single user
and local repo, I assumed it could be done on Linux with plain SVN.

My main focus is on showing how a domain-specific modelling tool can be
integrated with version control systems, on multiple platforms at once,
and possibly with multiple simultaneous users. Since the modelling tool
is the focus, I wanted the SVN side of things to "just happen", with
a minimum of fuss for the user.

I'd built integration for TortoiseSVN on Windows (here's a video if
it makes it clearer:

),
Git on both Windows and Linux, and was checking out SVN on Linux. I'd
already taken care of the multi-user case, with Windows and Linux
editing the same models and versioning to the same remote SVN. Now
I was adding the simplest single user case: one user on Linux with a
local SVN repository. Oddly, there's not much on the net about that,
but it does seem to work fine with file: URLs without a server process.

All the best,
Steve

PS I'm a big fan of trunk-based development - not for everyone, maybe,
but a boon if you're working with model files, for which merge really
doesn't work. The multi-user modelling tool repository takes care of
integrating users' work, and the version control system just accepts
the results with thanks as the next trunk version. Details here if you
are interested: https://modeling-lang

[Nathan Hartman]

Post by Steven Kelly

Post by Paul Hammant
Not answering your question, but could you explain more about your
'serverless' use - sounds intriguing

The idea is to do the simplest SVN example that could possibly work.
Since TortoiseSVN on Windows can work without a server for a single user
and local repo, I assumed it could be done on Linux with plain SVN.

SVN uses a client/server architecture but can access a local
repository using a file:/// scheme. When it does that, the client is
also the server, so you don't have a separate server process
running. (This is possible because SVN is actually implemented as a
library, and the library contains the code for both. You could
perhaps use SVN as a library instead of a separate process if you
want to integrate it into an application and use it as the
application's version controlled datastore.)

You are correct that three slashes are needed with file:/// -- the
first two are for the file:// URL scheme and the third is the
beginning of the path, which begins with the root "/" directory.

[Pavel Lyalyakin]

Post by Steven Kelly
Direct access (Unix-style): file://var/svn/repos/MyRepo/MyProject/tags/1.1.0
Direct access (Unix-style): file:///var/svn/repos/MyRepo/MyProject/tags/1.1.0
Two slashes don’t work, at least not on svn 1.10.2 (r1835932) on Fedora 28 4.17.9-200.fc28.x86_64
Cheers,
Steve [Not subscribed, CC appreciated]

Thank you! Fixed the typo in r1838191[1]

[1]: https://svn.apache.org/viewvc?rev=1838191&view=rev