Which subversion file system to use on CentOS5?

Question

I can either use Berkeley DB or FSFS, which one should I use? I'll also be using the repositries on my windows XP machine with TortoiseSVN

Answer 1

FSFS is the "new better" file system for SVN. DBD was the original file system, but FSFS was devloped for a reason and is now the default file system for SVN.

FSFS is more stable, more backup friendly and has been around for a while to be considered stable and mature.
Read the link in Archimedix answer for an official comparison.

Answer 2

FSFS is generally considered to be the most stable backend.

FSFS is also well-defined by subversion, so every client can use it. I've had many problems when accessing a BDB after upgrading the berkley library, so I would stay clear of that.

In any case: set up your server so it exports the subversion database using apache, this abstracts the used backend so your clients will never need to access the files directly

Answer 3

Unless you have particular reasons to use BDB, use FSFS.

In my experience, BDB tends to corrupt sometimes and then needs repair... I've never had any corruption with FSFS though.

Also, check out this link: http://svnbook.red-bean.com/nightly/en/svn.reposadmin.html