Version Control with Subversion

One of the greatest frustrations in most software projects is version control: the art of managing changes to information. Today's increasingly fast pace of software development--as programmers make small changes to software one day only to undo them the next--has only heightened the problem; consecutive work on code or single-programmer software is a rare sight these days. Without careful attention to version control, concurrent and collaborative work can create more headaches than it solves. This is where Subversion comes into play.

Written by members of the Subversion open source development team, Version Control with Subversion introduces the powerful new versioning tool designed to be the successor to the Concurrent Version System or CVS. CVS users will find the "look and feel" Subversion comfortably familiar, but under the surface it's far more flexible, robust, and usable, and more importantly, it improves on CVS's more notable flaws.

The book begins with a general introduction to Subversion, the basic concepts behind version control, and a guided tour of Subversion's capabilities and structure. With thorough attention to detail, the authors cover every aspect of installing and configuring Subversion for managing a programming project, documentation, or any other team-based endeavor. Later chapters cover the more complex topics of branching, repository administration, and other advanced features such as properties, externals, and access control. The book ends with reference material and appendices covering a number of useful topics such as a Subversion complete reference and troubleshooting guide.

Version Control with Subversion aims to be useful to readers of widely different backgrounds, from those with no previous experience in version control to experienced sysadmins. If you've never used version control, you'll find everything you need to get started in this book. And if you're a seasoned CVS pro, this book will help you make a painless leap into Subversion.

Ben Collins-Sussman, one of the founding developers of the Subversion version control system, led Google’s Project Hosting team and now manages the engineering team for the Google Affiliate Network. He cofounded Google’s engineering office in Chicago and ported Subversion to Google’s Bigtable platform. Ben coauthored Version Control with Subversion, and contributed chapters to Unix in a Nutshell and Linux in a Nutshell.

Brian Fitzpatrick leads Google’s Data Liberation Front and Transparency Engineering teams and has previously led Google's Project Hosting and Google Affiliate Network teams. He cofounded Google’s Chicago engineering office and serves as both thought leader and internal advisor for Google's open data efforts.

C. Michael Pilato (Mike) is a leader in the Subversion community, and a core developer of both Subversion and ViewCVS. He is currently employed by CollabNet, where he spends his days (and many nights) improving Subversion and other tools with which it integrates. When he's not programming, Mike enjoys composing and performing music, freelance graphic design work, hiking, and spending quality time with his wife and son. Mike holds a degree in computer science and mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He maintains a personal website at http://cmichaelpilato.com/.