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TABLE 7-4. Repository access URLs
(reprinted with permission from Version Control with Subversion)
Schema Access method
file:/// Direct repository access (on local disk)
Example: file:///usr/svn/repos/
http:// Access via WebDAV protocol to Subversion-aware Apache server
https:// Same as http://, but with SSL encryption
svn:// Access via custom protocol to an svnserve server
svn+ssh:// Same as svn://, but through an SSH tunnel

For the most part, Subversion’s URLs use the standard syntax, allowing server names and
port numbers to be specified as part of the URL. One difference is that the file:/// access
method can be used only for accessing a local repository—if a server name is given, it
should always be file://localhost/. It should always be followed by the full path of the
repository:
file:///usr/local/svn/repos

If the repository contains folders, those folders can be appended to the repository. (These
are the virtual folders contained within the repository, not the physical folder that con-
tains the repository database.) For example, to access /recipes/cookies.txt in the repository /
usr/local/svn/repos, the client must be passed the following URL:
file:///usr/local/svn/repos/recipes/cookies.txt
The file:/// URL scheme on Windows platforms uses the unofficially “standard” syntax for
specifying a drive letter by using either X: or X|. Note that a URL uses ordinary slashes, even
though the native (non-URL) form of a path on Windows uses backslashes. It is important to
use quotes so that Windows does not interpret the vertical bar character as a pipe:
C:\>svn checkout file:///C:/Documents and Settings/Ed/Desktop/repo
C:\>svn checkout "file:///D|/svn/repository/path/to/file"
Most of the Subversion examples in this chapter will use UNIX-style command syntax and
pathnames.

Create a Repository
The Subversion installation procedure does not create a repository—that must be done
using the svnadmin command.
Use svnadmin create to create an empty repository:

svnadmin create REPOSITORY_PATH
The svnadmin command requires that the repository path be specified in the operating sys-
tem’s native format. On a UNIX system, the following commands will create a repository
in the /usr/local/svn/repos/ directory:

$ mkdir /usr/local/svn
$ svnadmin create /usr/local/svn/repos

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