Item: Apache Subversion
Rating: 5
Author: Richard Davies

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our web development team uses Apache Subversion as one of our version control systems. A version control system is a critical tool for software development because it provides a central repository for our shared code and also tracks how our code changes over time, allowing us to view a history of changes or revert back to a previous version if necessary.

Pros and Cons

Retain a history of changes to a set of files
Allow multiple people to collaborate on a set of files and merge changes together

Apache Subversion works great when all users have access to the central Subversion server. This might mean users need to be on the same network.
Apache Subversion isn't great for "offline" work as it requires access to the central Subversion server.

Most Important Features

Free
Version control and history
Non-locking collaboration model
Windows Server compatibility (VisualSVN)

Return on Investment

Apache Subversion was easy to install and configure, and requires little maintenance.
We have had a few instances where the code repository has become corrupted and repairing this situation requires significant time and is frustrating.
It has a relatively easy learning curve so new users require little training and can be productive very early.

Alternatives Considered

GitHub and Visual SourceSafe (Discontinued)

After Microsoft Visual SourceSafe was discontinued, we chose Subversion and it was a great choice. We were able to migrate to Apache Subversion very quickly and easily and benefited immediately from its non-locking workflow (SourceSafe required users to "lock" the file when editing to prevent editing conflicts from other users, whereas Subversion allows multiple users to edit the same file simultaneously and then merge conflicts later.)

While we still use Apache Subversion for our legacy projects, we've migrated to Git and GitHub for our new projects as that is the new "cool kid" and it provides some benefits such as distributed and offline development. But Git is more complex than Apache Subversion and not as easy to learn.

Key Insights

Do you think Apache Subversion delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Apache Subversion's feature set?

Yes

Did Apache Subversion live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Apache Subversion go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Apache Subversion again?

Other Software Used

GitHub, Evernote, Slack, Zoom, Dropbox

Likelihood to Recommend

It's a relatively simple version control system so it works great for an individual or small team (less than 10 people). But if you have a medium to large team, especially one with members distributed over a large geographic area, or one where individuals need to be able to work "offline" without access to a central server, Apache Subversion will likely not be the best choice.

Also, if you're maintaining an open-source project where outside people will be interacting with your code repository, git is probably a better choice because it's becoming the de-facto standard these days and what most developers are familiar with.

Subversion is only slightly subpar

Overall Satisfaction with Apache Subversion