Subversion + Tracd

Update 2008-08-07: In case of more then one svnserve daemon (how-to), initializing script should contain more variables: project name, listening port and additional option in start-stop-daemon (PID file). The last is necessary because without it start-stop-daemon behaves like killall.

Subversion server starting script

There are 3 main ways to access SVN repository (book):

1. file system (file:///)


2. svnserve server (svn:// on port 3690)


3. regular Web server e.g. Apache2 (http://)

The following script (based on this one) starts svnserve server (book) on default port and listening on IP 127.0.0.1 (to not expose code to external network). To show repository, removing --listen-host directive binds server to non-local IP. Additionally you can restrict access to the code on Trac level (regardless of svnserv's IP). If you bind svnserve to 127.0.0.1 the code will still be visible to everybody with access to Tracd (Trac standalone server). If you wish to limit access to the code on Tracd level, you can

1. bind Tracd to 127.0.0.1 or


2. remove access to source for 'anonymous' user from Tracd (using trac-admin or web interface after installing TracWebAdmin)

The second idea is much more flexible and gives you ability to grant more granular access.

The code below is written with some assumptions:

1. Home directories for Subversion and Trac are accordingly in /home/subversion and /home/trac


2. Repository is in /home/subversion/docs created by svnadmin create /home/subversion/docs


3. Authentication is set: .../repo/conf/passwd and .../repo/conf/svnserve.conf are updated


4. We bind svnserve to localhost (127.0.0.1), but we show the code through Trac, hence...


5. the access rules are defined in Trac-admin

To make system completely private, add --hostname=$TRACD_HOST to line if start-stop-daemon --start --chuid $TRAC_USER:$TRAC_GROUP in script /etc/init.d/tracd. The variable TRACD_HOST is defined in /etc/default/tracd as 127.0.0.1.

/etc/init.d/svnserve

#!/bin/bash
#
# svnserve - brings up the svn server so anonymous users
# can access svn
#

# Get LSB functions
. /lib/lsb/init-functions
. /etc/default/rcS

SVNSERVE=/usr/bin/svnserve
SVN_USER=subversion
SVN_GROUP=users
PROJECT=docs2
SVN_REPO_PATH=/home/${SVN_USER}/${PROJECT}
SVNSERVE_PORT=3700 # standard port is 3690
# Check that the package is still installed
[ -x $SVNSERVE ] || exit 0;
[ -d $SVN_REPO_PATH ] || exit 0;

case $1 in
start)
  log_begin_msg "Starting svnserve..."
  if start-stop-daemon --start --chuid $SVN_USER:$SVN_GROUP --umask 002 --exec $SVNSERVE -- -d --listen-host 127.0.0.1 --listen-port=$SVNSERVE_PORT --root $SVN_REPO_PATH --pid-file=$SVN_REPO_PATH/svnserve.pid
  then
    log_end_msg 0
  else
    log_end_msg $?
  fi
  ;;

stop)
  log_begin_msg "Stopping svnserve..."
  if start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile=/var/run/svnserve_${PROJECT}.pid --exec $SVNSERVE --retry 2
  then
    log_end_msg 0
  else
    log_end_msg $?
  fi
  ;;

restart|force-reload)
  $0 stop && $0 start
  ;;

*)
  echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/svnserve {start|stop|restart|force-reload}"
  exit 1
  ;;

esac

exit 0

Trac standalone web server starting scripts

Trac authentication

htdigest -c /home/trac/docs/conf/users.htdigest \
Docs yourusername

WebAdmin plugin


export PYTHONPATH=/home/trac/docs/plugins
easy_install --install-dir=/home/trac/docs/plugins \
http://svn.edgewall.com/repos/trac/sandbox/webadmin


/etc/default/tracd


TRACD=/usr/bin/tracd
TRACD_HOST=127.0.0.1
TRACD_PORT=8000
TRAC_USER=trac
TRAC_GROUP=users
TRAC_INITENV=docs
TRAC_PROJECT=docs
PROJECT_REALM=Docs
TRAC_HOME=/home/$TRAC_USER
TRAC_ENV=${TRAC_HOME}/$TRAC_INITENV
TRAC_PID=${TRAC_ENV}/tracd.pid


/etc/init.d/tracd


#!/bin/bash
#
# tracd - brings up the trac daemon
#

# Get LSB functions
. /lib/lsb/init-functions
. /etc/default/rcS
. /etc/default/tracd
# Check that the package is still installed
[ -x $TRACD ] || exit 0;
[ -d $TRAC_ENV ] || exit 0;

case $1 in
start)
log_begin_msg "Starting tracd..."
if start-stop-daemon --start --chuid $TRAC_USER:$TRAC_GROUP --chdir $TRAC_HOME --umask 002 --exec $TRACD -- --daemonize --pidfile=$TRAC_PID -p $TRACD_PORT -a ${TRAC_INITENV},${TRAC_ENV}/conf/users.htdigest,${PROJECT_REALM} ${TRAC_PROJECT}
then
  log_end_msg 0
else
  log_end_msg $?
fi
;;

stop)
log_begin_msg "Stopping tracd"
if start-stop-daemon --stop --pidfile=$TRAC_PID
then
  log_end_msg 0
else
  log_end_msg $?
fi
;;

restart|force-reload)
$0 stop && $0 start
;;

*)
echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/tracd {start|stop|restart|force-reload}"
exit 1
;;
esac

exit 0


This procedure gives you Wiki ready to write all sorts of notes and documentation, but there is a disadvantage of Trac - site is flat. It means all pages are like sheets of paper laying on a table. Until you link them, they are "unstructured". As a Wiki for notes and documentation I can recommend TWiki.