Setting Your SVN Root with svn+ssh

Accessing your subversion repo via ssh is pretty nifty because you don't have to set up a special server or auth methods. The only problem is that out of the box, you are going to have to use the full path to your subversion root in the URLs. i.e. something like:

svn+ssh://svn.example.com/var/local/subversion/myproject

If you prefer to use a URL something like

svn+ssh://svn.example.com/myproject

you need to pass the -r option to svnserve when it is executed on the server. To do this, I usually replace the svnserve binary with a shell script that wraps the original program:

#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/svnserve-real -r /var/local/subversion $*

Where svnserve-real is the orginal binary. The only problem with this method is that 'apt-get upgrade' likes to reinstall the binary. Perhaps somebody else has a better trick?

About Roger Keays

Roger Keays is an artist, an engineer, and a student of life. He has no fixed address and has left footprints on 40-something different countries around the world. Roger is addicted to surfing. His other interests are music, psychology, languages, the proper use of semicolons, and finding good food.