A couple of weeks back I wrote about using CVS for versioning control. The other widely used technology is called SVN (Subversion). Again, SVN can be managed by command line and in fact you have more control using the command line. If you need to use Subversion occasionally, you can use SmartSVN. The process of using SmartSVN is very similar to using SmartCVS. SVN is a common tool used by Drupal houses to allow many developers and themers access to the same files in development of a site.

There are a few concepts that are important to understand. Checkout, Add, Commit, and Update.

You should only need to check a project out once--after that anything that you do locally should synchronize (when you tell SVN that is what you wish to do). That is to say anything that you do to the files is synchronized when you commit them back to the repository.

Using Add tells the repository you intend to place a file into the repository.

Commit tells the repository you wish to finish the synchronization from your local environment to the repository.

Update synchronizes your local environment to match the repository.

1. Download SmartSVN and fire it up
2. A window will open labled "Check Out Project"
3. Click "Manage"
4. Click "Add"
5. The maintainer of the repository should have given you Access Method, a server name, and a repository path. Enter those into this page.
6. Click "Next"
7. Enter your login name and password
8. Click "Next"
9. This should then bring you to a page which shows the repository
10. Choose what you want to check out
11. Click "Next"
12. Choose a target directory. You can browse for it.
13. Click "Next"
14. Rename the Project if you want, and click "Next"
15. Click "Finish" and the check out will begin.

After that to make changes to the repository, you drag new or edit your existing files in your "sandbox". If you have put a new file into your "sandbox", then you do the following:

1. Fire up SmartSVN and choose "Open existing project"
2. Choose the project you want to work within and click "OK"
3. Right click on the files you added and choose "Add" for each
4. Go to the "Modify Menu" and choose "Commit"
5. Go to the "Modify Menu" and choose "Update"

This will add your files to the repository and pull down any changes others have made to the repository.

If you want to just pull down changes, follow steps 1, 2, and 5.