--- name: "SVK::Help::Intro" section: "3pm" platform: "linux" package: "svk" version: "2.0.2-3" release: "Debian 5.0 (Lenny)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/SVK::Help::Intro" --- # SVK::Help::Intro(3pm) Introduction to svk ## NAME SVK::Help::Intro - Introduction to svk ## DESCRIPTION svk is an open source distributed version control system which is designed to interoperate with Subversion. Like other version control systems, it keeps track of each change you make to a project and allows you to maintain multiple parallel tracks of development. svk also has a number of powerful features which are rarely found in other version control systems. svk has been designed from the ground up to support development models that are simple and intuitive for software developers. It has advanced smart branching and merging semantics that make it easy to maintain multiple parallel lines of development and painless to merge changes across branches. svk's built in patch manager makes it easy for non-committers to share changes among themselves and with project maintainers svk provides powerful support for *distributed development*. Every svk client is capable of fully mirroring remote Subversion repositories so that you have full access to a project's history at any time, even when they are off the network or on the wrong side of a firewall. You can branch a remote project at any point in that project's history, whether or not you have write access to that project's repository. Later, you can integrate changes from the project's master server (usually with a single command) or push your branch up to another Subversion repository. ## GETTING STARTED svk has a rich command line interface that can be somewhat daunting at first. the following few commands are all you'll need for day to day operation. - svk mirror First, you'll need to *mirror* a remote repository. This sets up a local copy of that repository for you to branch from, merge to and otherwise poke at. The local path is sometimes called a "depot path." ``` # This command sets up the mirror directory for your local # mirrors of remote repositories svk mkdir //mirror svk mirror svn://svn.example.com/project_x //mirror/project_x ``` - svk sync When you've set up a new mirror or want to get some work done without a network connection, *sync* your local repository with upstream repositories. ``` svk sync //mirror/project_x ``` - svk copy After that, it's easy to *copy* remote branches to create local branches. (svk branches are simply directories, just like Subversion branches.) ``` # This command sets up a directory for your local branches. # Local branches can't live inside mirrored paths svk mkdir //local svk copy //mirror/project_x //local/project_x ``` - svk checkout When you want to get some work done, you can *checkout* a working copy to make local changes. ``` cd ~/svk-checkouts svk co //local/project_x ``` - svk add, svk delete and svk move As you work on the files in your working copy, feel free to *add* new files, *delete* existing files and *move* files around. ``` cd ~/svk-checkouts/project_x svk add Changelog svk move badly_named_file.c well_named_file.c svk delete .README.swp ``` - svk commit When you're done, just *commit* your changes to your local repository, whether or not you have network. If you *commit* to a mirrored path, rather than a local branch, you'll need to be able to access the path's upstream subversion server, but the commit will be sent to the server instantly. ``` svk commit ``` - svk pull Life doesn't stop when you make a local branch. From time to time, *pull* down changes from the upstream repository. ``` svk pull //local/project_x ``` - svk push When you're ready to share your changes with the world, *push* them to the upstream repository. ``` svk push //local/project_x ``` To see a full list of svk's commands, type `"svk help commands"`. For help with a specific command, just type `"svk help `*command*`"`. The svk wiki (\) is a great place to find the latest svk tips, tricks and updates. If you run into trouble using svk, the wiki's the right place to start looking for help.