Are Subversion repositories binary compatible (cross-platform)?

Question

My Subversion repository currently is installed on a dual boot system with Windows and Ubuntu Linux installed. Is it possible to use the same repository with both operating systems, so if I work with Ubuntu I can launch the svn service and access the same repository which I used with Windows?

for example

• the repository files will be accessed by the Linux svn service if my Laptop runs with Ubuntu
• and later accessed by the Windows svn service when I work with XP

(I will not access the same files with two different subversion servers at the same time)

Or - in other words: if the Subversion repository has been created and used on the Windows partition, can I also reboot with Linux and launch a Subversion server to use the same repository?

Answer 1

It's not really clear what you mean.

Did you install an svn service on Windows that you want to start (and use) from your Linux System? Or do you just want to access your repository?

IMHO you can reate a repository with the right tool (svnadmin on Linux). It's a directory containing your data and a lot of metadata. THis directory has to be exposed in some way (e.g. webdav, svn service).

A way to access your svn repository from your Linux system is to acces the repository directory directly. e.g.: svn co file://mnt/Windows_C/path/to/repository/project

You have to mount your Windows partition with -o rw though.

Answer 2

Yup, that works fine, at work we combine Windows, OS X, Linux and BSD, all using the same Subversion repo.

Answer 3

Subversion repositories are binary-compatible if they are using FSFS DB format (cat repos/db/fs-type) rather than Berkeley DB, and compatible versions of Subversion are used.

The Subversion release notes indicate when there are repository format changes. For example, Subversion 1.5 introduced an optional repository format upgrade to support merge tracking, as did 1.4, but Subversion always uses the newest format when a repository is created. It appears that all post-FSFS format upgrades are optional, not mandatory — so all you need to do is ensure that your repository was created by the oldest version of Subversion involved.