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Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
Basic Concepts
This chapter is a short, casual introduction to Subversion. If you’re new to version
control, this chapter is definitely for you. We begin with a discussion of general ver-
sion control concepts, work our way into the specific ideas behind Subversion, and
show some simple examples of Subversion in use.
Even though the examples in this chapter show people sharing collections of pro-
gram source code, keep in mind that Subversion can manage any sort of file collec-
tion—it’s not limited to helping computer programmers.
The Repository
Subversion is a centralized system for sharing information. At its core is a repository,
which is a central store of data. The repository stores information in the form of a
filesystem tree—a typical hierarchy of files and directories. Any number of clients
connect to the repository, and then read or write to these files. By writing data, a cli-
ent makes the information available to others; by reading data, the client receives
information from others. Figure 2-1 illustrates this. Why is this interesting? So far,
Figure 2-1. A typical client/server system
Repository
Client
Write Read Read
Client Client