I have downloaded TortoiseSVN, but the manual has so much stuff to sift through just to find out how to make use of the basic features... Can someone explain to me how to do the basics? Thanks

Quote:I have downloaded TortoiseSVN, but the manual has so much stuff to sift through just to find out how to make use of the basic features... Can someone explain to me how to do the basics?

Then...we'd just end up rewriting the manual. So no. Being too lazy to read the manual is not a good explanation. This isn't playing a video game. It's not push in CD ROM, click and enjoy.

You will need to invest time in learning how SVN works and how to use version control.

Quote:Original post by oler1s
Then...we'd just end up rewriting the manual. So no. Being too lazy to read the manual is not a good explanation. This isn't playing a video game. It's not push in CD ROM, click and enjoy.

You will need to invest time in learning how SVN works and how to use version control.

I don't think this is entirely fair. There's two entirely different pieces of knowledge that have to come together for effective SVN use. One is knowing how the tools work, which the TortoiseSVN manual does a pretty decent job of outlining. The other is how to set up and manage an effective repository with trunks/tags/branches.

Quote:Original post by Eagle11
I have downloaded TortoiseSVN, but the manual has so much stuff to sift through just to find out how to make use of the basic features... Can someone explain to me how to do the basics?
Thanks

I'm going to assume you understand the basics of how this is supposed to work/what it will accomplish for you.

You first need to have access to a repository. Once you've got that, you need to decide how you're going to set it up. Two pretty basic setups are as follows:

project1/trunkproject1/branchproject1/tagproject2/trunkproject2/branchproject2/tag

and

trunk/project1trunk/project2branch/project1branch/project2tag/project1tag/project2

I prefer the former as it makes a bit more sense to me. Regardless, once you decide on an organizational structure you need to import your trunk into SVN. Here is where you get to use the manual. Learn the following:

* How to import a project
* What a trunk/branch/tag is
* How update/commit/checkout work, as well as when to use them

Once you've imported your code, you can start doing commits when you make changes to the code base. If you've got other people working on the code, make sure you update as well to incorporate their changes.

Another hint, keep in mind that with SVN you are only trying to keep track of important project files. This means that user specific files (like .suo files), debug files, and/or compiled objects should NOT be included. The best way to take care of this is to add certain items to the global ignore list for TortoiseSVN. My ignore list currently contains the following:

ClientBin Bin Obj bin obj *.*.user *.*.webinfo *.dll *.exe *.suo

Be sure to adjust it to your needs, this is just my preference.

Anywho that should be enough to get you going. If you have any further questions, it would probably be best to consult your manual.

Quote:
Then...we'd just end up rewriting the manual. So no. Being too lazy to read the manual is not a good explanation. This isn't playing a video game. It's not push in CD ROM, click and enjoy.

I understand it does sound lazy, but the manual is really just confusing me since I am not familiar with a lot of the terminology.

Quote:
How far have you got so far? Do you have a repository set up on your local machine (or on a server somewhere)?

I really have just been skipping around in the manual, but I really just want to know the very basics of how to work it and I'm having a hard time finding out what to do.
I have a SourceForge project set up that I would like to use for SVN... would that be a repository?

Thanks for the info binchawpz(I saw your post after finishing my response). The information that you gave me should be helpful.

Quote:Original post by Eagle11
I really have just been skipping around in the manual, but I really just want to know the very basics of how to work it and I'm having a hard time finding out what to do.
I have a SourceForge project set up that I would like to use for SVN... would that be a repository?

You will need to find the specific URL of your repository from SourceForge. I've never used SourceForge so I don't know how that works. Typically you create a repository on the site and it gives you the URL. It is also likely that your SourceForge username/password are your credentials for SVN.