Quick and Easy SVN Guide (How do I use SVN?!) - Questions Answered...

[MrPresident]

This tutorial requires you at least know BASIC computer terminology... If you don't, maybe you should rethink hosting a server 
First off, you will NEED to have an svn client installed on your system. For this tutorial we will use TortoiseSVN which you can download (HERE)

After you install this program you will need to reboot your computer... so either print this guide or bookmark this page, then restart your computer.



OKAY.. now that you have your SVN client installed, it is time to perform an SVN checkout.. don't worry I'm about to explain it all right now.

1. Create a folder.. Anywhere you want, but remember where you put it. The name of your folder should be something you will remember, if you are doing an SVN checkout for ULX name the folder ULX.. the same with ULib.
2. Right click on the folder and you should see some menu options that were not there before... The one you are looking for is 'SVN Checkout' click this..
3. A dialog window will pop up asking you for
      a. The URL of the Repository.. this is the svn address given to you by whatever it is you are trying to get (example:  https://github.com/TeamUlysses/ulx is the address for ULX)
      b. Checkout Directory... this should be the path to the folder you right clicked on. Leave it as it is.
      c. Leave all the other options as they are.
4. Click Okay
5. If the SVN server you are connecting to requires that you provide a username and password, it will now ask you for those items.. (for ULX and ULib it is
     user: anonsvn
     pass: anonsvn
6. One you enter the password and username the SVN client will begin downloading all of the data from the svn server.


There you go.. now that you have sucessfully completed an SVN checkout, you are ready to use it.

This part confuses a lot of people, but it is really very simple.. The ULX and ULib svn checkout folders that you create act exactly like regular addon folders. They should have (amungst other things) an info.txt file in them. Simply copy and paste the top level folder that has the info.txt file into your addons folder and you are gooooood to go! =)


IF you have any questions, please feel free to ask here. I don't think it gets any simpler than this! =)

Edit by Megiddo (June 25, 2010): Fixed the example address
Edit by Megiddo (November 25, 2012): Changed the example address to new repository
Edit by Stickly Man! (November 14, 2015): Changed the example address to newer repository

[Buggzie]

you spelt TortoiseSVN wrong

[MrPresident]

*I know this is some time later.. but..*


I like how it took someone 2 and a half years and nearly 10k views later to figure out I spelled Tortoise wrong. ^.^

[Megiddo]

Updated to our new SVN address

[benefitscheque]

I know basic computer terminology, but "SVN Checkout" isn't one of the things I've heard of before.

Also, I have Tortoise on my computer now, but how do I use this when my server is accessed through a website control panel (Vilayer).

[LuaTenshi]

I know basic computer terminology, but "SVN Checkout" isn't one of the things I've heard of before.

Also, I have Tortoise on my computer now, but how do I use this when my server is accessed through a website control panel (Vilayer).

"SVN Checkout" pretty much translates to "Hey, you I am gonna give you an SVN directory and your going to download the files to my computer.".

---

Unless your provider allows an automatic installation of add-ons through SVN links your kinda out of luck. I assume it would be different depending on your provider, so it would be better if you ask on their forums.


But here is how you would install the files on your server...

Download the files to your computer using the tutorial the OP provided, then remove the .svn hidden folders from your installation...

(Why delete the .svn folders? Because some providers would not let you delete directories with the .svn folders in them, its not a big deal but it is kind of annoying when it comes to keeping your add-ons organized.)

...and then just upload the files using FTP.


If you delete the .svn folders there will be one down side... you will not be able to update your files because you deleted the .svn folders, so you will have to delete and re-download to update.

[MrPresident]

An 'SVN Checkout' is where the SVN client (Tortoise SVN in your case) goes onto the repository and downloads or updates files on your computer to their current version.

This is a good way for applications like ULib and ULX which have lots of files to keep updated without asking you to download unmodified files every time.


To go a little further with how to upload the addon to your hosted server... once you have finished a 'checkout' you can right click on the folder and under Options there is an Export button. This will make a copy of the checkout without all of the svn related files.

Once you have done this, simply pack the addon into a zip file and upload it to your server via your control panel. Most control panels have an unzip function built into them exactly for this purpose.

[JamminR]

Now that many "SVN" repositories are actually moving to "Github" repos, I've not had to use a SVN client in a long time. (Github allows zip downloads of repositories..NICE feature)
However, tonight, after starting up Gmod for the first time in probably 8+ months, I joined a server that uses SProps.
I was severely dissapointed to discover that I was going to have to use SVN (the author doesn't use Git).
While attempting to search for an 'online' svn to zip conversion of some sort, I found a reasonable replacement.

TLDR
Windows users - single 'dont have to install anything and run services' exe file..worked for Sprops
http://downloadsvn.codeplex.com/ - requires .net 2 (which, I think is almost default on most Win computers)

20 min later, I now have Sprops
(and to be honest, am disappointed the Sprops author doesn't offer a compressed format somewhere 'legit' - 19513 files @ 134MB is a lot, even when blessed with 1-2MB a sec broadband)