6/5/2018 Dropbox SVN Repository: How to use Dropbox as SVN Repository

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How to use
Dropbox as an SVN
repository
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Recently, the popular Cloud based
startup Dropbox is getting lot of Spring 4 MVC Tutorial Maven Example
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synchronization/backup service where
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6/5/2018 Dropbox SVN Repository: How to use Dropbox as SVN Repository

every user where one can save / backup

their files.

One of the interesting usage of Dropbox

can be to use it as Subversion
Repository to store your projects. We
can create a local SVN repository on
Dropbox which can be synchronized on
Cloud by Dropbox. You can checkout
this repository and add your projects /
files into it. This way you can access
your project anywhere. Also it is
possible to share your repository with
other users if you want to. Simply by
sharing Dropbox folder where you have
stored subversion repository can
enables you to share it with other
users.

Here is an example of hosting a local

SVN repository on Dropbox.

Step 1: Create
Dropbox repository
cd ~Dropbox
mkdir SVNRepository
cd SVNRepository

If you are using subversion command

line utilities in Windows or using Unix
box, we can create a new subversion
repository by using svnadmin .

svnadmin create .

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6/5/2018 Dropbox SVN Repository: How to use Dropbox as SVN Repository

If you are using TortoiseSVN client then

you may want to create repository
using following:

Right-click on the newly created folder

SVNRepository and select TortoiseSVN
→ Create Repository here….

We just created a Subversion repository

on top of Dropbox folder. Don’t edit
those files yourself!!. If you get any
errors make sure that the folder is
empty and not write protected.

Step 2: Checkout
Dropbox repository
Our Dropbox repository is ready and we
can do checkin / checkout in this now.
Before we add any project / files in this
repository, we need to make sure we
add proper directory structure in this
SVN repository. It is a good practice to
divide an SVN repositories in three
directory: trunk, branches and tags.

First create a working folder where you

want to checkout your SVN repository.

mkdir ~MyWorkspace
cd MyWorkspace

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6/5/2018 Dropbox SVN Repository: How to use Dropbox as SVN Repository

svn checkout file:///~Dropbox/SVNReposito

This will checkout the newly created

repository in folder MyWorkspace.

Now create 3 directories in

MyWorkspace: trunk, branches and tags
and commit the change back to
repository.

mkdir trunk
mkdir branches
mkdir tags
svn commit -m "Initial setup (committing

Step 3: Checkout
Trunk of Dropbox
SVN repository
We are done with the setup.. Just
checkout the Trunk of this newly
created SVN repository and start
committing your changes.

svn checkout file:///~Dropbox/SVNReposito

That’s it. Now you can checkout the

SVN repository
“file:///~Dropbox/SVNRepository/trunk”
anywhere and commit your changes to
it. Ofcourse this is now hosted on
Dropbox so you can easily synchronize
your changes between different
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6/5/2018 Dropbox SVN Repository: How to use Dropbox as SVN Repository

computers. You can also share this

repository with other Dropbox users
letting them SVN your repository
access.

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12 COMMENTS
b00let  7 May, 2011, 16:55  

https://viralpatel.net/blogs/dropbox-svn-subversion-repository/ 6/10
6/5/2018 Dropbox SVN Repository: How to use Dropbox as SVN Repository

I wonder how this combination of svn

on top of dropbox would ever solve
conflicts and generally such concurent
access related issues
Reply

Bobby Jack  2 November, 2011, 16:25  

Nice little tutorial. I’m a bit confused,
however, as to how this will work
when accessing dropbox from
multiple systems. For example, the
repository root is tied to the
filesystem it was created on, and I’m
guessing won’t work if that changes.
BTW, you missed out one thing in part
2 of step 2: “svn add branches trunk
tags” before the “svn commit …”
Reply

Paul  12 January, 2012, 7:44  

The follow issue happens when I try
svn checkout
file:///~Dropbox/SVNRepository
–
svn: Unable to open an ra_local
session to URL
svn: Unable to open repository
‘file:///~Dropbox/svn’
–
Reply

Anonymous
 14 January, 2012, 23:50  

Use the full path to your

Dropbox folder instead of ~
e.g.:
file:///home/anonymous/Dropbox/svn
Reply

João Craveiro  24 March, 2012, 1:19  

Probably the problem is that it should
read ~/Dropbox instead of ~Dropbox

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6/5/2018 Dropbox SVN Repository: How to use Dropbox as SVN Repository

~Dropbox is “the home directory for

the user called Dropbox” :-)
Reply

Social Crunching  8 May, 2012, 12:58  

This is a very nice usage of the cloud
storage. Thanks for sharing mate!!
Reply

CodeBalt  15 August, 2012, 7:12  

Thanks for this article, as a freelance
solo Developer this solution is perfect
for me, as I really just want to have
the Repository remote from my
development machine. Seems a bit
daft to have the source control stored
locally…
Reply

nocans  18 August, 2012, 22:27  

This is really pointless as dropbox
already has revision control built in.
However, checking code out to a
dropbox is not a bad idea, since it will
allow you to share the code with svn
nubs that may need to make changes,
while keeping everything
synced,comittable and updatable.
w00tz!
Reply

CS  28 August, 2012, 17:29  

Good informative post.
Reply

Mike  11 January, 2013, 3:46  

Seems pointless to me. Why not
setup a free account on bitbucket and
use a real vcs server?
Reply

Speaktek  15 May, 2013, 21:20  

https://viralpatel.net/blogs/dropbox-svn-subversion-repository/ 8/10
6/5/2018 Dropbox SVN Repository: How to use Dropbox as SVN Repository

Here’s one application that works for

me.
In our case…I wanted the Sales team
to use SVN for certain docs (Price
sheets and such)…but a bit over there
head.
I setup an Auto SVN like this:
– Created a REPO in my SVN server.
– Checked out repo into a DB folder
call AutoSVN.
– I run EasySVN on my PC, which auto
commits and updates the REPO.
With he ‘Auto’, there are no log
comments, but not critical for these
particular docs.
The Sales guys use the DB folder…
and simply maintain the file name of
those docs that need version control
such as price sheets.
Reply

khan  28 February, 2016, 19:16  

The reason for using SVN is to share
code also.
But the solution seem to be live only
for storing code.
Reply

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