Can Subversion be configured for Windows Authentication without Apache

Question

I've setup Subversion following Jeff Atwood's article at Coding Horror: Setting up Subversion on Windows. I followed the steps exactly and I have SVNSERVE now running as a service on a Windows 2003 server in our LAN.

I've also installed TortoiseSVN and I've been playing with it and trying to learn more about it so I can spread the usage in our shop.

My question at this point is whether it is possible to somehow avoid use of the conf/passwd file where users and passwords are defined. I would hope to be able to use Windows authentication but from what I've gathered so far, Windows Authentication seems to be possible only with usage of Apache.

Is there a simple way to get Subversion configured to use Windows authentication without delving into Apache?

EDIT: I just discovered you have a sister site for stuff like this called serverfault.com. Should I post this question there (even though I am more of a developer than an administrator)?

Answer 1

I don't know if this is what you're after, but VisualSVN Server is a free package that the people at VisualSVN do. It's still using Apache under the hood, but as far as the simplistic administration goes - it's a client that does all the installation work for you (you just need this for your subversion server as it includes Subversion too).

This allows you to administrate your Windows Authentication setup via their admin app (which is a bit like a standard management app you might see for other databases). You can set users at Repository level, whether they have Read/Write permissions and overwrite them at any of the lower folder levels.

You do NOT need to use their client for Visual Studio (which is what they charge for), but they are hoping you do ;)

Again, it's not getting around the requirement for Apache - but it's abstracting it away so you have a little 'Black Box' methodology for your Subversion server. ;)