Building A Subversion Server
Version Control for Your Robot Software
By Hugh MeyerFRC Team 1741Red Alert RoboticsGreenwood Indiana
October 29, 2011
Purpose
The purpose of this session is to provide a comprehensive overview of the process to build and use a subversion server by supplying you enough information to implement your own server and expose sources of additional information for more detailed help.
By Hugh Meyer FRC Team # 1741
Introduction to Subversion
What it is and why we need it The Problem of File Sharing Memory Stick Nightmares Ultimate Backup System Giant edit undo button
What is Subversion and why do we need it
Subversion is software that is designed to help programmers keep track of different changes or versions of code
It allows several people to share and work on the same code at the same time
It simplifies the process of merging code from different developers
The Problem of File Sharing
When two or more people need to modify the same file at the same time on different computers
How to prevent users from over writing each others changes
There are two ways to solve this The Lock-Modify-Unlock Solution The Copy-Modify-Merge Solution
Memory Stick Nightmares
Students tend to share files by memory sticks so it is easy for them to share program code this way.
As they develop code the number of different files, that are really the same file modified over and over increases beyond control very quickly.
Tracking who has the latest version is very difficult and merging changes from different users is very time consuming and error prone.
Ultimate Backup System
Have you ever lost work because your computer crashed?
It is not a matter of if you computer disk crashes but when!
Giant edit undo button
Have you ever lost work because you saved a file that you changed and wished you had the previous file back?
Edit undo is great, but some times it is only good to a point.
Computer Hardware
Get a computer to build your server If you have the funds get the biggest hard
drive you can If you have the funds get the fastest CPU
you can If you have the funds get the most memory
you can If you don’t have funds don’t worry! Just
about anything will do!
Machine Requirements
Generally speaking not very demanding. OS needs about 200 meg of disk space. Memory required is 8 meg. CPU is 386 and up. More is always better…
Ideas for Cheap Machines
Talk to your school network administrator Talk to your sponsors IT department Talk to you church IT administrator Ask parents of students
Load and Configure Operating System NetBSD
Download ISO image and burn boot disk Run the install process Learn basic command for VI text editor (Google is
your friend) Setup IP address, gateway, DNS servers Connect system to the Internet Test connection Install Package System Setup svn user and svn_user group Configure any firewalls you are behind to open svn
port # 3690
Download ISO Image and Burn Boot Disk
Go to the NetBSD website. Click on the download NetBSD link. I like to download the ISO image and burn a
bootable CD. I generally will download from the master site in
California. Use this file and your favorite disk burning software
to make a bootable disk. In Nero the command is “burn image” under the
“recorder” menu item. This process is not the same as burning a data
disk.
Running the Install Process
Be sure your computer will boot from the CDrom drive. You may need to adjust a setting in your cmos.
Follow the wizard prompts. The defaults will nearly always work and are usually the best choices.
Reboot the machine. Review the afterboot man page. It provides a
check list of stuff to complete after a new install.
Learn Some Basic OS Commands
Command cd in this context is change directory
“cd /” puts you at the root level Command “cd etc” is where most files you
need to change will be Command ls gives a listing of files Command pwd prints working directory Command dmesg shows boot messages
that go so fast you miss them
Learn Basic OS Commands
Man pages are built in help apropos searches the man pages The pipe ‘| more’ function is handy The documentation on the NetBSD website
is good How to documents on the NetBSD website
are nice
Learn Basic Commands for VI Text Editor
Initiate the editor with the command “vi filename” of the file you want to edit
Command “vi rc.conf” edits a primary configuration file
J moves down, k moves up, l moves left, h moves right
Command :x exits and saves See resource page for more…
Setup IP address, gateway, DNS servers
Edit /etc/rc.conf file to insert ifconfig line and defaultroute gateway.
Ifconfig ex0 inet xx.xx.xx.xx netmask 255.255.255.xx using the IP address and netmask for your internet connection.
defaultroute=“xx.xx.xx.xx” Edit /etc/resolv.conf to include your ISP
namservers nameserver xx.xx.xx.xx
Connect System to the Internet
Plug in network cable to your network device
Be sure it is 100 mbps or faster if possible Check link lights
Test connection
Ping your router ‘ping ww.xx.yy.zz’ Ping your name servers Do a name lookup to be sure DNS is
working “nslookup google.com” If these three work you can count it good
Install NetBSD Package System
I like to use sup to install the package system. It takes longer to download initially, but after that it only downloads the updates files and will automatically handle deleting old files. The following commands will do the job.
mkdir /etc/supfiles /usr/sup cp
/usr/share/examples/supfiles/sup.netbsd.org /etc/supfiles/coll.list
Install NetBSD Package System
Edit the /etc/supfiles/coll.list, and comment out (add a # to the start) all lines except the block of two lines that start “current release=pkgsrc’
Run sup to update pkgsrc with the command ‘sup –s –v’
Be aware this will take a while. I let it run at night and it is done in the morning.
Setup svn user and svn_user group
‘useradd –m svn’ ‘groupadd svn_user’ ‘usermod –G svn_user svn’ ‘passwd svn’
Define Repository Files Location
Create the directory structure where you want your repository located as root
‘mkdir /usr2’ ‘cd /usr2’ ‘mkdir repos’ Change owner to svn ‘chown svn /usr2’ ‘chown svn /usr2/repos’
Set User and Group
Change group to svn_user ‘chgrp svn_user /usr2 ‘chgrp svn_user /usr2/repos’ Verify that directories are set to correct user
and group with the ‘ll’ command
Configure Any Firewalls You Are Behind to Open SVN Port # 3690
Subversion uses port 3690 This port must be open if you are behind any fire
walls If this is on a school network then you will need
your network administrator to do this If you are on Comcast or AT&T or similar service
then you may need to log into your router, or hopefully the port will be open by default
You MUST have a static IP address
Load and Configure Subversion
Download, build, and install subversion using the package system
Test your new subversion install Setup inetd to launch subversion on incoming
request using svnserve Setup host allow and deny files to control access if
desired Create repository using svnadmin create command Setup passwd and other conf files
Download, Build, and Install Subversion Using the Package System
Be sure you are logged in as root Easiest way to install is to use the NetBSD
package system. Change directory to the package folder for
subversion ‘cd /usr/pkgsrc/devel/subversion’ ‘make fetch-list | sh’ This will download all dependencies
Download, Build, and Install Subversion Using the Package System
‘make’ ‘make install’ ‘make clean’ ‘make clean CLEANDEPENDS=YES’
Test Your New Subversion Install
Test the installation by entering the command ‘svn ? | more’ You should get a response of commands.
Enter command ‘svnadmin help’ you should get list of commands.
If these work you are good to go.
Setup inetd
Inetd is a process that looks for incoming connections on the server and launches the appropriate executable depending on the requested service.
The /etc/inetd.conf file must be updated to indicate what to do with a subversion request.
Edit the /etc/inetd.conf file ‘svn stream tcp nowait svn /usr/pkg/bin/svnserve
svnserve –i –r /usr2/repos’ Restart inetd ‘/etc/rc,d/inetd restart’
Setup Host Allow and Deny Files to Control Access If Desired
If you are concerned about security you can create two files that will tell inetd to allow or deny certain requests.
Create an /etc/hosts.allow file Insert the following lines ‘svnserve: ALL’ or ‘svnserve: xx.xx.xx.xx
Setup Host Allow and Deny Files to Control Access If Desired
Create a /etc/hosts.deny file ‘ALL:ALL’ or any you know you want to keep out. I have the svn open so students can access it from
home, but I do restrict other services like telnet to only allow connections from my home, the school, and my work.
See the man page hosts_access(5) for more information on this feature.
Create Repository Using svnadmin Create Command
You should be logged in as user svn Change directory to the location you created earlier
for your repository files I use /usr2/repos Use the svnadmin command to create your
repostiory ‘svnadmin create YouRepoName’ Change directory to the new location and you
should have several directories with files in them
Setup passwd and Other Conf Files
Use command ls and you should see a folder ‘conf’ cd to the conf folder Modify the svnserve.conf file to set access like you
want and activate the password file The file explains what things do, so read and follow
the instructions Modify the password file by adding the users you
want to have access to your repository Your server setup is now complete
Create and Initialize Client Working Environment
Load Client Tools TortoiseSVN Subeclipse Subersion command line tools SlikSVN
TortoiseSVN
Integrated solution for Windows Implemented as a shell extension Works with any file type Visually shows you modified files with icon
overlays Download from: http://tortoisesvn.net/
Subeclipse
Integrated solution for Eclipse Used by the Wind River Workbench Instructions for installation are in chapter 4
of the FRC Software Guide
Subversion Command Line Tools
Useful for compilers Useful to IDEs that need to interface to the
repository
SlikSVN
Command tool used by Wind River Workbench
Instructions for installation are in chapter 4 of the FRC Software Guide
Using Subversion
Initial folders and files import Checkout working copy Commit changes made to working copy Update working copy to merge changes
others have made
Initial Folders and Files Import
Setup branches, tags, and trunk folders Import the files you want in your trunk folder DELETE Your Local Copy!! (or just move it somewhere
else)
Checkout Working Copy
Use appropriate tool to do initial checkout Test the working copy by compiling to be sure
everything works
Committing Working Copy
Select commit option Dialog box will pop up showing what it
plans to do Read this box carefully to be sure it is what
you want to happen It will show new files and ask if you want to
add them or ignore them
Update Working Copy
Before you start work always update your working copy
You will get any modifications made by others
Check the logs if you want to see activity Use the diff viewer to see exactly what has
changed
Using Your Server At Competitions
Setup server as DHCP server to serve addresses in the range of it’s normal IP range
When a user connects he will be assigned a network address similar to the server and can access the repository with no changes in the users local computer configuration
Using Your Server At Competitions
Add the following to the /etc/rc.conf file dhcpd=YES dhcpd_flags=“-q YourNetInterface” inetd=NO /user/pkg/bin/svnserve –d –r /usr2/repos –
listen-host=xx.xx.xx.xx Setup /etc/dhcpd.conf file to serve up IP
addresses – see man page for details
Using Subversion for FRC Code Base
In Wind River Workbench Use Subclipse – Integrated solution
Using Subversion for FRC Code Base
In LabVIEW Use TortoiseSVN on folder where the VI files are
saved This will use the Lock-Modify-Unlock approach since
LabVIEW files are binary and unknown by ToroiseSVN in the standard mode
TortoiseSVN does have some settings for entering a diff, merge tool that might work with LabVIEW, but I have not tried that approach
Load PushOK SVN for more integrated solution. See NI document in reference section for more detailed information about this option
Using Subversion for FRC Code Base
In MPLAB. Use TortoiseSVN on project folder Use integrated support via command line
Subversion
Additional Resources and References
The Subversion documentation Books Web links Google is your friend
Version Control With Subversion
Version Control with Subversion, Second Edition by Ben Collins-Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick, and C. Michael Pilato, published by O’Reilly
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510336/ The reference book created by core
members of the Subversion development team.
NetBSD Operating System
NetBSD is a free, secure, and highly portable Unix-like Open Source operating system available for many platforms, from large-scale server systems to powerful desktop systems to handheld and embedded devices.
http://netbsd.org/ Highly structured and disciplined code that
is very stable and reliable.
NetBSD Wiki
The NetBSD Wiki is a collaborative writing project to build useful resources for NetBSD users
http://netbsd.org/docs/
TortoiseSVN
TortoiseSVN is an easy to use SCM / source control software for Microsoft Windows
It is implemented as a Windows shell extension, which makes it integrate seamlessly into the Windows explorer.
Since it's not an integration for a specific IDE you can use it with whatever development tools you like.
http://tortoisesvn.net/
Subversion
The most recent version of Subversion is: 1.7.1. (As of October 23, 2011)
You can install Subversion by compiling its source code release directly, or you can install one of the prepackaged binaries found here.
http://subversion.apache.org/packages.html
Subclipse
Subclipse is an Eclipse Team Provider plug-in providing support for Subversion within the Eclipse IDE. This is used for the Wind River Workbench tool provided to FRC teams.
http://subclipse.tigris.org/ The installation instructions in the FRC
software guide are very good.
FRC Chapter 4 Software Installation
4-FRC_Control_System-Software-Installation-0.10c.pdf page 11 & 12
Section 4.4.1.1 Instructions for installing the SVN plug-in for
Eclipse / Wind River Workbench http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/4-FRC
_Control_System-Software-Installation-0.10c.pdf
For LabVIEW
Source Code Control and Group Development Practices in LabVIEW for Advanced Configuration Management Tasks
http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-1681
https://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-2936
Text Editor
Mastering the VI Editor http://www.eng.hawaii.edu/Tutor/vi.html Vi (pronounce: "vee eye", not "six", not
"vye") is an editor. An editor is a program to edit files.
http://thomer.com/vi/vi.html Don’t panic. You only need a handful of
useful commands
Questions?
Contact Information Hugh Meyer [email protected] Work 317 786-9214 Home 317 535-1200 Be sure to mention you were in this workshop session This power point file will be online at: http://rar.meyermat.net/workshops/index.html Thank you for attending!
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