Svn - get the list of all repos on a server so I can svnsync

Question

I'm attempting to create a backup of my client's existing svn repositories, which is publicly available over http.

If possible, I'd like to be able to make new repositories automatically, from any computer, without having to give console access to the server to external parties (i.e. the users could do a ls on my svn repo dir)

My problem is that I need to know the list of svn repositories on the server - it isn't a fixed list, since the user will add new repositories over time.

I'm able to list the repositories on an html page via Apache's mod_dav_svn module, using the SVNListParentPath On directive. I got this page: http://svn.ohwr.org/

My question is: what is the easiest way to obtain a usable list of such repositories? I'll need to parse that list in order to make syncs, probably using shell commands.

Must I parse the HTML with shell commands, or is there a better way to get that list?

Answer 1

I ended up creating my own solution.

I've set up a cron task that makes an ls on the svn folder and redirects its output to a publicly available file on the server. This file has no html markup, it is a plain text file with just the names of the repositories.

This way, clients can wget that file and iterate over the repository names quite easily.

I'm not very pleased with this implementation; while it works, it its a bit "hacky". I'd rather use something provided by SVN or Apache themselves.

If anyone posts a better solution, I'll accept it. In the meantime, this is my best possible answer.