| Subversion | |
| Apache Subversion | |
| Author: | CollabNet |
| Developer: | Apache Software Foundation |
| Ver Layout: | stacked |
| Programming Language: | C |
| Genre: | Revision control |
| License: | Apache-2.0 |
Apache Subversion (often abbreviated SVN, after its command name svn) is a version control system distributed as open source under the Apache License.[1] Software developers use Subversion to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages, and documentation. Its goal is to be a mostly compatible successor to the widely used Concurrent Versions System (CVS).
The open source community has used Subversion widely: for example, in projects such as Apache Software Foundation, FreeBSD, SourceForge, and from 2006 to 2019, GCC. CodePlex was previously a common host for Subversion repositories.
Subversion was created by CollabNet Inc. in 2000, and is now a top-level Apache project being built and used by a global community of contributors.[2]
CollabNet founded the Subversion project in 2000 as an effort to write an open-source version-control system which operated much like CVS but which fixed the bugs and supplied some features missing in CVS. By 2001, Subversion had advanced sufficiently to host its own source code,[3] and in February 2004, version 1.0 was released.[4] In November 2009, Subversion was accepted into Apache Incubator: this marked the beginning of the process to become a standard top-level Apache project.[5] It became a top-level Apache project on February 17, 2010.[6]
| Version | Original release date | Latest version | Latest release date | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-02-23 | 1.0.9 | 2004-10-13 | No longer supported | ||
| 2004-09-29[7] | 1.1.4 | 2005-04-01 | No longer supported | ||
| 2005-05-21[8] | 1.2.3 | 2005-08-19 | No longer supported | ||
| 2005-12-30[9] | 1.3.2 | 2006-05-23 | No longer supported | ||
| 2006-09-10[10] | 1.4.6 | 2007-12-21 | No longer supported | ||
| 2008-06-19[11] | 1.5.9 | 2010-12-06 | No longer supported | ||
| 2009-03-20[12] | 1.6.23 | 2013-05-30 | No longer supported | ||
| 2011-10-11[13] | 1.7.22 | 2015-08-12 | No longer supported | ||
| 2013-06-18[14] | 1.8.19 | 2017-08-10 | No longer supported | ||
| 2015-08-05[15] | 1.9.12 | 2019-07-24 | No longer supported | ||
| 2018-04-13[16] | 1.10.8 | 2022-04-12 | No longer supported | ||
| 2018-10-30[17] | 1.11.1 | 2019-01-11 | No longer supported | ||
| 2019-04-24[18] | 1.12.2 | 2019-07-24 | No longer supported | ||
| 2019-10-30[19] | 1.13.0 | 2019-10-30 | No longer supported | ||
| 2020-05-27[20] | 1.14.3 | 2023-12-20 | Fully supported, LTS | ||
| 2024-0x | 1.15.0 | (Not yet released) | In development | ||
Release dates are extracted from Apache Subversion's file,[21] which records all release history.
Subversion offers two types of repository storage.
The original development of Subversion used the Berkeley DB package.Subversion has some limitations with Berkeley DB usage when a program that accesses the database crashes or terminates forcibly. No data loss or corruption occurs, but the repository remains offline while Berkeley DB replays the journal and cleans up any outstanding locks. The safest way to use Subversion with a Berkeley DB repository involves a single server-process running as one user (instead of through a shared filesystem).[22] The Berkeley DB backend was deprecated in version 1.8.[23]
In 2004, a new storage subsystem was developed and named FSFS.It works faster than the Berkeley DB backend on directories with a large number of files and takes less disk space,due to less logging.[22]
Beginning with Subversion 1.2, FSFS became the default data store for new repositories.
The etymology of "FSFS" is based on Subversion's use of the term "filesystem" for its repository storage system.FSFS stores its contents directly within the operating system's filesystem, rather than a structured system like Berkeley DB.Thus, it is a "[Subversion] FileSystem atop the FileSystem".
A new filesystem, called FSX, is under development to remove some limitations of FSFS. As of Version 1.9, it was not considered production-ready.[24]
See main article: Comparison of Subversion clients. Access to Subversion repositories can take place by: