Subversion 1.4.0 from source via Apache 2.2 on Ubuntu Dapper

This howto assumes you’ve already followed my Building Apache 2.2 from source article.

Now we’re going to install Subversion 1.4.0 from source so that it can be access via Apache with authentication.

Installing Subversion

As we’ve built Apache from source, we’ll need to do the same for Subversion in order to get the Apache 2 modules mod_dav_svn and mod_authz_svn.

wget http://subversion.tigris.org/downloads/subversion-1.4.0.tar.gz
tar xvfz subversion-1.4.0.tar.gz
cd subversion-1.4.0/
./configure --prefix=/usr/local --with-apxs=/usr/local/apache2/bin/apxs
make
sudo make install

This will also add the relevant LoadModule directives into your Apache 2 configuration for you.

Creating your repository

Now, create your Subversion repository:

svnadmin create /home/yourusername/subversion/repos

We have to make that repository owned by Apache so that it can be accessed via the web:

sudo chown -R apache /home/yourusername/subversion/repos

Authentication File

Now create a user/password file for authentication:

htpasswd -cm /home/yourusername/subversion/dav_svn.passwd davidwinter

When prompted, enter your password.

Configuring Apache

Edit your /usr/local/apache2/conf/httpd.conf file with the following placed at the end:

<Location /svn>
  DAV svn
  SVNPath /home/yourusername/subversion/repos

  AuthType Basic
  AuthName "Subversion Repository"
  AuthUserFile /home/yourusername/subversion/dav_svn.passwd
  Require valid-user
</Location>

If you want access control based on different users, add the following line after the Require valid-user line:

AuthzSVNAccessFile /home/yourusername/subversion/svn_access_control

Save the file. Start Apache. To find out what you need to put in the svn_access_control file, read my previous Subversion authentication article here. for params.