Setup a SVN Server on a Shared Hosting - Revision history

Admin at 13:15, 28 June 2011

2011-06-28T13:15:11Z

Admin: /* Create the SSH keys */

2011-06-28T13:08:30Z

‎Create the SSH keys

Admin: /* Prepare SVN */

2011-06-28T13:08:02Z

‎Prepare SVN

Admin: Created page with "You'll need SSH access for this, so pick your hosting wisely! I've setup mine on [http://www.hostmonster.com HostMonster]. In the code samples, things to customize to your liki..."

2011-06-28T13:05:45Z

Created page with "You'll need SSH access for this, so pick your hosting wisely! I've setup mine on [http://www.hostmonster.com HostMonster]. In the code samples, things to customize to your liki..."

New page

You'll need SSH access for this, so pick your hosting wisely!

I've setup mine on [http://www.hostmonster.com HostMonster].

In the code samples, things to customize to your liking are in '''bold'''.

=== Prepare SVN ===

Download the latest version (as of writing of this, 1.6.17), and build/install it.

cd '''~/some/temp'''
wget http://subversion.tigris.org/downloads/subversion-1.6.17.tar.gz
wget http://subversion.tigris.org/downloads/subversion-deps-1.6.17.tar.gz
tar xfz subversion-1.6.17.tar.gz
tar xfz subversion-deps-1.6.17.tar.gz
cd subversion-1.6.17/
./configure --prefix=$HOME --without-berkeley-db --with-editor=/usr/bin/vim --with-neon=$HOME --without-apxs --without-apache --without-neon
make && make install

At this point, you may delete all files in <tt>'''~/some/temp'''</tt>, you're done with the SVN setup.

The SVN binaries are now located in the <tt>~/bin</tt> folder. This folder is typically already included in <tt>$PATH</tt>; you can verify it using
svn --version

=== Create the SSH keys ===

For ease of use, and security at the same time, you should use SSH keys for authentication.

The easiest way is to use passphrase-less keys, that you'll use ''only'' for the SVN access.

# create the keys - choose where to put the keys, and enter empty passphrase;
# name the keys something like '''mysvn_id_rsa''', so you can easily recognize them
# be sure to chmod 600 both keys afterwards; SSH even refuses to work with non-600 keys!

ssh-keygen -t rsa

# now transfer - scp/sftp - the '''mysvn_id_rsa'''.pub (and '''''only''''' this key -
# not the private one!) to your hosting account and register it as a valid key:

cat '''mysvn_id_rsa'''.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

=== Setting Up the SVN on Local Machine ===

On your local machine, put the keys somewhere safe - typically in <tt>~/.ssh</tt> folder and make sure the folder is set to 700.

SVN allows you to define named tunnels to use, with any protocol you want.

Edit your <tt>~/.subversion/config</tt> file, adding the following line under the <tt>[tunnels]</tt> section:

'''mysvn''' = ssh -i /'''home/user'''/.ssh/'''mysvn_id_rsa'''

Notice that you have to use a full path to the key, otherwise you'll get the following error:

Warning: Identity file ~/.ssh/mysvn_id_rsa not accessible: No such file or directory.

=== Setting Up the Server Side ===

Due to security concerns, SSH does not see user's <tt>$PATH</tt> until the user is logged in.
This means that the <tt>svnserve</tt> command won't work via SSH, as your ''svnserve'' executable is in your home.
If you try to checkout the repository now, you'll get the following error:

bash: svnserve: command not found

It's simple to overcome (and the reason why the created key should/can be used only for SVN connections) by updating the <tt>~/.ssh/authorized_keys</tt> file on your server, adding the following to the start of the line where your public key part is:

command="/'''home'''/'''user'''/bin/svnserve -t -r /'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/"

where <tt>/'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/</tt> is the folder where you want to store your repositories. You can also find the path to <tt>svnserve</tt> using <tt>`which svnserve`</tt>.

Here you can see that "the only thing" that can be done with the key is to run the <tt>svnserve</tt> command.

=== Using It All ===

Now, once you [[Creating a SVN Repository|create some repositories]] on the server, or [[Moving a SVN Repository|move them from previous hosting]], you can check out - on your local machine - the <tt>/'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/repo</tt> like this:

svn co svn+'''mysvn'''://my.host.com/repo

Note the ''mysvn'' named tunnel from the SVN config file; this way, on a single development machine, you can use as many different SSH keys and setups as you need.

Also note what the <tt>-r</tt> parameter did - it specifies the SVN's fake root on server, i.e. starting point from which the <tt>svnserve</tt> should start looking for the repositories. This has two advantages:
* makes your setup more secure - the <tt>svnserve</tt> cannot access files outside this folder,
* makes your repository easier to use - in the above URL, the ''repo'' part translates to <tt>/'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/''repo''</tt>; without the <tt>-r</tt> parameter to <tt>svnserve</tt>, you'd have to use the full path:

svn co svn+'''mysvn'''://my.host.com/'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/repo

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:08, 28 June 2011
Line 29:		Line 29:

	The easiest way is to use passphrase-less keys, that you'll use ''only'' for the SVN access.		The easiest way is to use passphrase-less keys, that you'll use ''only'' for the SVN access.
		+
		+	On your development machine:

	# create the keys - choose where to put the keys, and enter empty passphrase;		# create the keys - choose where to put the keys, and enter empty passphrase;

@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
   ssh-keygen -t rsa
-  # now transfer - scp/sftp - the '''mysvn_id_rsa'''.pub (and '''''only''''' this key -
+  # now transfer - e.g. by scp - the '''mysvn_id_rsa'''.pub (and '''''only''''' this key -
   # not the private one!) to your hosting account and register it as a valid key:
   cat '''mysvn_id_rsa'''.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
 === Setting Up the SVN on Local Machine ===
-On your local machine, put the keys somewhere safe - typically in <tt>~/.ssh</tt> folder and make sure the folder is set to 700.
+On your local machine, put the keys somewhere safe - typically in <tt>~/.ssh</tt> folder and make sure the folder is chmod'ed to 700.
 SVN allows you to define named tunnels to use, with any protocol you want.
@@ Line 60: / Line 63: @@
 Due to security concerns, SSH does not see user's <tt>$PATH</tt> until the user is logged in.
-This means that the <tt>svnserve</tt> command won't work via SSH, as your ''svnserve'' executable is in your home.
+This means that the <tt>svnserve</tt> command won't work via SSH, as your <tt>svnserve</tt> executable is in your home.
 If you try to checkout the repository now, you'll get the following error:
   bash: svnserve: command not found
-It's simple to overcome (and the reason why the created key should/can be used only for SVN connections) by updating the <tt>~/.ssh/authorized_keys</tt> file on your server, adding the following to the start of the line where your public key part is:
+It's simple to overcome (and the reason why the created key should/can be used only for SVN connections) by updating the <tt>~/.ssh/authorized_keys</tt> file on your server, adding the following to the start of the line where your public key is:
   command="/'''home'''/'''user'''/bin/svnserve -t -r /'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/"
@@ Line 75: / Line 78: @@
 === Using It All ===
-Now, once you [[Creating a SVN Repository|create some repositories]] on the server, or [[Moving a SVN Repository|move them from previous hosting]], you can check out - on your local machine - the <tt>/'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/repo</tt> like this:
+Now, once you [[Creating a SVN Repository|create some repositories]] on the server, or [[Moving a SVN Repository|move them from previous hosting]], you can check out - on your local machine - the <tt>/'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/'''repo'''</tt> like this:
-  svn co svn+'''mysvn'''://my.host.com/repo
+  svn co svn+'''mysvn'''://'''my.host.com'''/'''repo'''
 Note the ''mysvn'' named tunnel from the SVN config file; this way, on a single development machine, you can use as many different SSH keys and setups as you need.
-Also note what the <tt>-r</tt> parameter did - it specifies the SVN's fake root on server, i.e. starting point from which the <tt>svnserve</tt> should start looking for the repositories. This has two advantages:
+Also note what the <tt>-r</tt> parameter did - it specifies the SVN's fake root on server, i.e. starting point from which the <tt>svnserve</tt> should start looking for the repositories - for the given key - you can change this on the per-key level. This has two advantages:
 * makes your setup more secure - the <tt>svnserve</tt> cannot access files outside this folder,
 * makes your repository easier to use - in the above URL, the ''repo'' part translates to <tt>/'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/''repo''</tt>; without the <tt>-r</tt> parameter to <tt>svnserve</tt>, you'd have to use the full path:
-  svn co svn+'''mysvn'''://my.host.com/'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/repo
+  svn co svn+'''mysvn'''://'''my.host.com'''/'''home'''/'''user'''/svn/repo

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 === Prepare SVN ===
-Download the latest version (as of writing of this, 1.6.17), and build/install it.
+On your hosting server, download the latest version of SVN (this was 1.6.17, as of writing), and build and install it.
   cd '''~/some/temp'''
@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
   make && make install
-At this point, you may delete all files in <tt>'''~/some/temp'''</tt>, you're done with the SVN setup.
+At this point, you may delete all files in <tt>'''~/some/temp'''</tt>, you're done with the SVN build.
   svn --version