Instructions for setting up source control systems (SVN or Git) at Apache.
Source Code Repositories
Git Repository Use At Apache
Web Access - Subversion Repositories
Anonymous Subversion Client Access
Committer Subversion Access
Configuring the Subversion client
Subversion SSL Server certificate
Problems with Subversion?
“Error validating server certificate” errors
“svn: No such revision 765287” errors
“specified baseline is not the latest baseline” errors
“Compressed stream invalid” errors
Problems using date revisions
Frequently Asked Questions
When Do I Need To Use svn lock?
How frequently can I run a cron that connects to the repository?
How do I mirror the entire SVN repository for my experimental $foo?
Why Do I Get a 403 When I Try To Commit?
SOURCE CODE REPOSITORIES
Apache project contributors are located all around the world. To enable them to work together on our software, we keep the source code in an Internet-accessible revision control system - either Subversion (SVN) or in Git. Apache committers have write access to the repository for their projects, enabling them to make changes to the source code. Everyone has read access to the repositories, so you may download the most up-to-date development version of the software. If you are looking for a stable release of the source code, you should download it from the distribution directory. The Subversion or Git repository for your project should only be used if you want to be on the bleeding-edge of the development effort. The code contained in them may fail to work, or it may even eat your hard drive. There are several ways to access the Apache project repositories:
GIT REPOSITORY USE AT APACHE
How-To, documentation, and the list of projects using git for revision control are at https://git.apache.org/.
WEB ACCESS - SUBVERSION REPOSITORIES
If you just wish to browse around or download a few individual files, the best tool is the web-based ViewVC interface for Subversion or go straight to the public repository at http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/.
ANONYMOUS SUBVERSION CLIENT ACCESS
To access the Subversion repository anonymously, you will need a Subversion client. You can also browse for projects via http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/.
Choose the module you would like and check it out. For example, to get the Spamassassin module, use:
$ svn checkout http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/spamassassin/trunk spamassassin
For more help on using Subversion, consult the Subversion website or Subversion book. The web site provides a list of clients and useful links (including a link to the Eclipse plug-in ).
COMMITTER SUBVERSION ACCESS
We currently use HTTPS basic authentication for logging in to Subversion ( certificate info below ). To change your password, visit https://id.apache.org/.
Now, when you make changes, you can commit them with your username/password combination, i.e.
$ svn co https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/excalibur/trunk/ excalibur-trunk
$ cd excalibur-trunk
$ echo “test” > test.txt
$ svn add test.txt
$ svn commit --username your-name --password your-password
–message “Trying out svn”
svnserve is not supported, nor is svn+ssh.
CONFIGURING THE SUBVERSION CLIENT
Committers will need to properly configure their svn client. One particular issue is OS-specific line-endings for text files. When you add a new text file, especially when applying patches from Bugzilla, first ensure that the line-endings are appropriate for your system, then do… svn add test.txt svn propset svn:eol-style native test.txt Your svn client can be configured to do that automatically for some common file types. Add the contents of the file http://www.apache.org/dev/svn-eol-style.txt to the bottom of your ~/.subversion/config file, normally found at:
Windows: C:\Documents and Settings{username}\Application Data\Subversion\config
Windows 7: C:\Users{username}\AppData\Roaming\Subversion\config]
Linux & Mac OSX: ~/.subversion/config or /etc/subversion/config
Some files may need additional properties to be set, for example svn:executable=* should be applied to those script files (e.g…bat,.cgi,.cmd,.sh) that are intended to be executed. Since not all such files are necessarily intended to be executed, the executable property should not be made an automatic default.
However, you should still pay attention to the messages from your svn client when you do ‘svn commit’.
Tip: If you use TortoiseSVN, a popular Windows GUI client that integrates with Windows Explorer, you can simply right click in Explorer and select TortoiseSVN - Settings, and then press the “Edit” button to update your “Subversion configuration file:”. Simply copy the above svn-eol-style.txt file’s contents into the end of the config editor (usually Notepad) that appears, and save the file.
SUBVERSION SSL SERVER CERTIFICATE
The server certificate for https://svn.apache.org/ is a real SSL certificate. However, Subversion, by default, does not currently ship with a list of trusted CAs. So, here’s some information to help you verify the validity of our cert:
Hostname: *.apache.org
Valid: from Apr 20 00:00:00 2017 GMT until July 20 23:59:59 2019 GMT
Issuer: SSL.com
SHA-1 Fingerprint 2D:97:67:D9:2E:20:EE:07:3D:26:DA:97:A6:43:36:5F:71:8E:94:19
SHA-256 Fingerprint F1:57:0C:FB:84:67:51:20:59:FC:56:63:91:32:AE:CA:B6:6C:E6:93:56:C7:9A:98:54:8B:2D:C6:CA:BC:13:07
Note that the SSL certificate for our Subversion repository is different from certificates used when logging into Apache infrastructure - please see the New Committer guide for more information.
PROBLEMS WITH SUBVERSION?
“ERROR VALIDATING SERVER CERTIFICATE” ERRORS
Error validating server certificate for ‘https://svn.apache.org:443’:
- The certificate is not issued by a trusted authority. Use the
fingerprint to validate the certificate manually!
Certificate information: - Hostname: *.apache.org
- Valid: from Apr 20 00:00:00 2017 GMT until July 20 23:59:59 2019 GMT
- Issuer: SSL.com
- SHA-1 Fingerprint 2D:97:67:D9:2E:20:EE:07:3D:26:DA:97:A6:43:36:5F:71:8E:94:19
®eject, accept (t)emporarily or accept §ermanently?
Note: SSL fingerprints (as above) for the SVN hosts are listed in the Machines List
“SVN: NO SUCH REVISION 765287” ERRORS
If you’re getting an error message like the following:
svn: No such revision 765287
This may be because of a short lag in the synchronization between Subversion mirrors, and can occur if multiple commits are run immediately after each other. This error will usually only happen if you are located in Europe, or explicitly using the European mirror.
Waiting for 10 seconds and repeating the command should succeed.
Note that this error can also occur when running ‘mvn release:prepare’ The mvn release plugin has a special property to handle this situation:
[http://maven.apache.org/maven-release/maven-release-plugin/prepare-mojo.html#waitBeforeTagging] (http://maven.apache.org/maven-release/maven-release-plugin/prepare-mojo.html#waitBeforeTagging)
“SPECIFIED BASELINE IS NOT THE LATEST BASELINE” ERRORS
If you’re getting an error message like the following:
svn: Commit failed (details follow):
svn: The specified baseline is not the latest baseline, so it may not be
checked out.
This may be because of a short lag in the synchronization between Subversion mirrors, and can occur if multiple commits are run immediately after each other. This error will usually only happen if you are located in Europe, or explicitly using the European mirror.
Waiting for 10 seconds and repeating the command should succeed.
“COMPRESSED STREAM INVALID” ERRORS
If you’re getting an error message like the following:
svn: PROPFIND of ‘/repos/asf/foobar’:
Compressed stream invalid (https://svn.apache.org)
That’s a known issue in the neon client library which has been fixed in neon 0.24.7. A workaround is to disable compression in your client. Edit ~/.subversion/servers. Uncomment the [global] section if neccessary, and add a line that reads
http-compression = no
And that should “fix” the problem until you can upgrade.
PROBLEMS USING DATE REVISIONS
If you are using a date revision such as -r{2004-09-12}:{2004-08-12} and not getting any or all of the revisions you expected, this is a known problem specific to the ASF repository.
Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to improve this situation, so you must use a workaround. You can use svn log or ViewVC to locate the actual revision number that is first after the date you desire, and substitute that into your -r argument to the svn command.
For example, consider the desired command:
$ svn diff -rHEAD:{2005-01-01}
When this produces no output, running svn log alone shows:
…
r124032 | aheritier | 2005-01-04 09:58:16 +1100 (Tue, 04 Jan 2005) | 1 line
Switch to subversion
r123911 | brett | 2005-01-03 09:48:57 +1100 (Mon, 03 Jan 2005) | 1 line
remove nagoya references
r116173 | brett | 2004-10-23 22:11:51 +1000 (Sat, 23 Oct 2004) | 2 lines
remove old requires descriptions
…
So, the comand above should become:
$ svn diff -rHEAD:123911
The particular reason this occurs is because the order of the revisions is not identical to the order of dates in the repository. This is a side effect of loading CVS repositories with history with dates prior to the latest date in the Subversion repository.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHEN DO I NEED TO USE SVN LOCK?
Very rarely. Commits in subversion are transactional. This means that locks are almost always unnecessary.
An oft quoted use case is to prevent concurrent editing of a large unmergeable binary document. However, for open development, good communication is preferable to locking even in this use case. A good timely post to the list letting your fellow developers know that you’re going to start editing that huge PDF is better than locking the file.
HOW FREQUENTLY CAN I RUN A CRON THAT CONNECTS TO THE REPOSITORY?
Hourly is fine. Please do not use programs that poll the repository more frequently than hourly. People who run automated scripts that continuously poll the repository wind up getting their access denied, which may impact other folks connecting through the same host. If you need to stay more in-sync than an hourly cron allows, subscribe your script to the relevant commit mailing list.
HOW DO I MIRROR THE ENTIRE SVN REPOSITORY FOR MY EXPERIMENTAL $FOO?
First, ask yourself: do I really want the entire ASF repository? Generally most people really want only a single project. In that case, just checkout that source directory from the repo.
If you really do want the entire ASF repository, don’t use svnsync. Instead, start by looking here: http://svn-master.apache.org/dump/ Use that to bootstrap your repo.
WHY DO I GET A 403 WHEN I TRY TO COMMIT?
Run svn info and check that the URL starts with https://. If it starts with http://, run:
$ svn switch --relocate http://svn.apache.org https://svn.apache.org
If you still get 403 Forbidden errors, ask your PMC to double-check the authz file and LDAP/Unix group membership.