There may be situations where it's not possible to use Apache as your server. Fortunately, Subversion includes Svnserve - a lightweight stand-alone server which uses a custom protocol over an ordinary TCP/IP connection.

In most cases svnserve is easier to setup and runs faster than the Apache based server.

Now that svnserve is installed, you need it running on your server. The simplest approach is to run the following from a DOS shell or create a windows shortcut:

svnserve.exe --daemon

svnserve will now start waiting for incoming requests on port 3690. The --daemon switch tells svnserve to run as a daemon process, so it will always exist until it is manually terminated.

If you have not yet created a repository, follow the instructions given with the Apache server setup the section called “Configuration”.

To test that svnserve is working, use TortoiseSVN → Repo-Browser to view a repository.

Assuming your repository is located in c:\repos\TestRepo, and your server is called localhost, enter:

svn://localhost/repos/TestRepo

when prompted by the repo browser.

You can also increase security and save time entering Url's with svnserve by using the --root switch to set the root location and restrict access to a specified directory on the server:

svnserve.exe --daemon --root drive:\path\to\repository

Using the previous test as a guide, svnserve would now run as:

svnserve.exe --daemon --root c:\repos

And in TortoiseSVN our repo-browser Url is now shortened to:

svn://localhost/TestRepo

Note that the --root switch is also needed if your repository is located on a different partition or drive than the location of svnserve on your server.

sc create svnserve binpath= "c:\svnserve\svnserve.exe --service 
	--root c:\repos" displayname= "Subversion" depend= tcpip start= auto

obj= "NT AUTHORITY\LocalService"

The default svnserve setup provides anonymous read-only access. This means that you can use an svn:// Url to checkout and update, or use the repo-browser in TortoiseSVN to view the repository, but you won't be able to commit any changes.

To enable write access to a repository, you need to edit the conf/svnserve.conf file in your repository directory. This file controls the configuration of the svnserve daemon, and also contains useful documentation.

You can enable anonymous write access by simply setting:

[general]
anon-access = write

However, you will not know who has made changes to a repository, as the svn:author property will be empty. You will also be unable to control who makes changes to a repository. This is a somewhat risky setup!

One way to overcome this is to create a password database:

[general]
anon-access = none
auth-access = write
password-db = userfile

Where userfile is a file which exists in the same directory as svnserve.conf. This file can live elsewhere in your filesytem (useful for when you have multiple repositories which require the same access rights) and may be referenced using an absolute path, or a path relative to the conf directory. If you include a path, it must be written /the/unix/way. Using \ or drive letters will not work. The userfile should have a structure of:

[users]
username = password
...

This example would deny all access for unauthenticated (anonymous) users, and give read-write access to users listed in userfile.

Another way to authenticate users with a svnserve based server is to use a secure shell (SSH) to tunnel requests through.

With this approach, svnserve is not run as a daemon process, rather, the secure shell starts svnserve for you, running it as the SSH authenticated user. To enable this, you need a secure shell daemon on your server.

It is beyond the scope of this documentation to detail the installation and setup of a secure shell, however you can find further information in the TortoiseSVN FAQ . Search for “SSH”.

Further information about svnserve can be found in the SVN book .

Starting with Subversion 1.3, svnserve supports the same mod_authz_svn path-based authorization scheme that is available with the Apache server. You need to edit the conf/svnserve.conf file in your repository directory and add a line referring to your authorization file.

[general]
authz-db = authz

Here, authz is a file you create to define the access permissions. You can use a separate file for each repository, or you can use the same file for several repositories. Read the section called “Path-Based Authorization” for a description of the file format.