Setting up Subversion on Windows as a service

Question

When installing subversion as a service, I used this command:

c:\>svnservice -install --daemon --root "c:\documents and settings\my_repository"

And then I got this error:

Could not create service in service control manager.

After looking at some MSDN docs on the service control manager, I tried granting full control to everyone in the permissions on the registry key at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services, but that hasn't had any effect.

Anybody know what I did wrong, or how to overcome this?

Note #1: I am running as an administrator on this box

*Note #2: I was following the instructions given here, so maybe my choice of directory is misguided. And my repository is not actually called "my_repository". I used the name of an actual project which is currently under source control in gasp VSS.*

Answer 1

VisualSVN Server installs as a Windows service. It is free, includes Apache, OpenSSL, and a repository / permission management tool. It can also integrate with Active Directory for user authentication. I highly recommend it for hosting SVN on Windows.

Answer 2

I think svnservice is obsolete, because since 1.4, svnserve itself has been able to run as a Windows service. (svnserve comes as a part of the normal SVN binary distribution)

http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/subversion/trunk/notes/windows-service.txt contains the details of how to set it up.

And the binaries you want are here: http://subversion.tigris.org/servlets/ProjectDocumentList?folderID=91

But as others have said, there are now more friendly packages containing the svn stuff - VisualSVN Server (so badly named it makes me weep) and the Collabnet distribution - the later is Apache only, and is hand rolled on the thighs of virgins, which means that it always seems to appear about three weeks later than everyone else.

Answer 3

I've followed the instructions given at the Collabnet site:

http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/subversion/trunk/notes/windows-service.txt

They use the windows SC to create the service (which runs svnserve). This has worked for me without any problems (using svn 1.4 and 1.5)

Answer 4

I've never used the command line installer for this. I assume you are downloading the latest from:

http://svnservice.tigris.org/

I run the installer, and then use the configuration tool (in the Start Menu, SVN Service, SVN Service Administration) to set it up.

Answer 5

The only thing I can currently think of, is the following: make sure you're running under an administrator account. That's absolutely necessary to install a service, AFAIK.

Have fun with Subversion, btw :)

Answer 6

I'd suggest you move your repository to somewhere a little safer, maybe "c:\SVNRepo".

I'd hesitate to put the Repository in "Documents and Settings". Is your repository actually called "my_repository"?

Answer 7

I recommend you tu use Visual SVN Server. Very easy to install