Trying to install and configure Subversion on AIX

[Werner L. Stolz]

We are attempting to install and configure subversion on AIX 7.2

 

Unfortunately, we are not very familiar with how to configure this software.

 

We were able to get the software installed, but we find we have the following issue.

 

Only the root user can create new repositories.  This is true no matter where in the file system we attempt the operation.

 

We would like to allow a set group of users to create repositories, or even some single user other than root, but we

don’t know which configuration file to edit, or what such an entry would look like.

 

 We have the following installed:

subversion.ppc                               1.10.8-1         @AIX_Toolbox

git-subtree.ppc                              2.35.1-1         AIX_Toolbox

subversion-devel.ppc                         1.10.8-1         AIX_Toolbox

subversion-tools.ppc                         1.10.8-1         AIX_Toolbox

mod_dav_svn.ppc                              1.10.8-1         @AIX_Toolbox

git-svn.ppc                                  2.35.1-1         AIX_Toolbox

 

Werner Stolz

InvestCloud, Inc.

LOS ANGELES – NEW YORK – LONDON – GENEVA – SINGAPORE – SYDNEY – ZURICH – VENICE – LUXEMBOURG – HONG KONG – TOKYO – BENGALURU – TORONTO – SAN FRANCISCO – TAMPA – CARLSBAD – NEW JERSEY

mobile: +1 331-238-3870 | office: +1 848-305-7158 | investcloud.com

 

 

 

---

Electronic Privacy Notice. This e-mail, and any attachments, contains information that is, or may be, covered by electronic communications privacy laws, and is also confidential and proprietary in nature. If you are not the intended recipient, please be advised that you are legally prohibited from retaining, using, copying, distributing, or otherwise disclosing this information in any manner. Instead, please reply to the sender that you have received this communication in error, and then immediately delete it. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

---

 

[Nico Kadel-Garcia]

On Fri, Jul 8, 2022 at 4:46 PM Werner L. Stolz <wst...@investcloud.com> wrote:
>
> We are attempting to install and configure subversion on AIX 7.2

Stop there. AIX is... not a popular platform anymore. That said,
proceed directly to the "Red Book", at https://svnbook.red-bean.com/ .
It will walk you through the requirements for a Subversion server,
which typically has httpd or svn+xxh access to a back end service
running as a particular, non-root account.

> Unfortunately, we are not very familiar with how to configure this software.
>
> We were able to get the software installed, but we find we have the following issue.
>
> Only the root user can create new repositories. This is true no matter where in the file system we attempt the operation.

Red Book. If I may suggest? Do not bother with Apache or httpd based
access, it's powerful but encourages the maintainers to waste
astonishing amounts of time doing lots and lots of other Apache
customization which is an astonishing waste of an admin's time.

> We would like to allow a set group of users to create repositories, or even some single user other than root, but we
> don’t know which configuration file to edit, or what such an entry would look like.
>
> We have the following installed:
>
> subversion.ppc 1.10.8-1 @AIX_Toolbox
> git-subtree.ppc 2.35.1-1 AIX_Toolbox
> subversion-devel.ppc 1.10.8-1 AIX_Toolbox
> subversion-tools.ppc 1.10.8-1 AIX_Toolbox
> mod_dav_svn.ppc 1.10.8-1 @AIX_Toolbox
> git-svn.ppc 2.35.1-1 AIX_Toolbox

If you're able to host it offsite, I'd encourage you not to waste your
expensive engineer time and just pay for the service with the 24x7
support and consistent updates, etc.

Also, Subversion has lost a lot of its appeal with so many effective
git services available, and the ease of using them with decentralized
development. Just saying.

Nico Kadel-Garcia

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Jul 8, 2022, at 15:42, Werner L. Stolz wrote:
>
> Only the root user can create new repositories. This is true no matter where in the file system we attempt the operation.

I'm not familiar with AIX, but that's not normal for Subversion. Repositories are created with the svnadmin program. In a normal Subversion installation, anyone can use the svnadmin program, and in a normal operating system, users can create files and folders in directories they have access to.

What exact command did you run and what exact error message did you get?