Upgrading Subversion

linuxroks88 · 12-09-2008, 02:57 PM

I have Subversion 1.1.4 (svn) running on a CentOS 4.4 box. We need to upgrade it to the current version, which I believe is 1.5.4.x.

On the subversion.tigris.org site, there are two sets of binaries available, one from CollabNet, the other from Summersoft. I don't know which binaries to use.

What is the best way to upgrade (which binaries should I use) to preserve the existing install and have it pickup all configuration information and files it is currently tracking?

I read the Read Me's from CollabNet and it says to install the client first, then the server. It appears that the CollabNet rpms install in a different default path than where mine is installed, and I don't know how that will affect our existing install.

There appears to be only one .rpm download from the Summersoft site, and it does not appear to have any readme docs like the CollabNet files.

Looking for friendly and insightful advice.

bathory · 12-10-2008, 05:45 AM

Are you sure you cannot use the Fedora subversion packages?
Before installing the package you want, just make a backup of your repositories.
Also you should consider the following (quoted from tigris.org) when upgrading from 1.4 to 1.5

Quote:

The Subversion 1.5 server works with 1.4 and older repositories, and it will not upgrade such repositories to 1.5 unless specifically requested to via the svnadmin upgrade command. This means that some of the new 1.5 features will not become available simply by upgrading your server: you will also have to upgrade your repositories. (We decided not to auto-upgrade repositories because we didn't want 1.5 to silently make repositories unusable by 1.4 — that step should be a conscious decision on the part of the repository admin.)

After running svnadmin upgrade, you may wish to also run the svn-populate-node-origins-index program on the repository. Subversion 1.5 maintains a node-origins index for each repository, and builds the index lazily as the information is needed. But for old repositories with lots of revisions, it's better to create the index in one step, using the aforementioned tool, than to have live queries be slower until the index has built itself.
svnadmin upgrade

svn-populate-node-origins-index

linuxroks88 · 12-10-2008, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bathory

Are you sure you cannot use the Fedora subversion packages?
Before installing the package you want, just make a backup of your repositories.
Also you should consider the following (quoted from tigris.org) when upgrading from 1.4 to 1.5

Thank you for your reply. I have several further questions.

Am I sure I cannot use the Fedora packages? I don't know. Are the Fedora .rpms compatible with CentOS 4.4? I know CentOS and Fedora are built from the same source, but will the Fedora package work on my CentOS box in this case?

Does the Fedora package contain both the server and client?

On the other Linux boxes that need just the client, how do I install just the client?

We are running Subversion 1.1.4, not 1.4. Is it necessary to do an interim upgrade to Subversion 1.4 before going to 1.5.4, or should I just be able to upgrade straight to v1.5.4?

bathory · 12-10-2008, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Am I sure I cannot use the Fedora packages? I don't know. Are the Fedora .rpms compatible with CentOS 4.4? I know CentOS and Fedora are built from the same source, but will the Fedora package work on my CentOS box in this case?

Fedora and Centos are both based on RHEL. It should work as long as you meet the dependencies.
Perhaps you should consider using this repository to get subversion.

Quote:

Does the Fedora package contain both the server and client?
On the other Linux boxes that need just the client, how do I install just the client?

They contain both the server and client parts. If you want you can delete the server executables from the clients and leave only svn.

Quote:

We are running Subversion 1.1.4, not 1.4. Is it necessary to do an interim upgrade to Subversion 1.4 before going to 1.5.4, or should I just be able to upgrade straight to v1.5.4?

I guess you can upgrade directly to 1.5 since the changes are between 1.4 and 1.5 versions, but you should read the documentation to be sure.