Problem with Apache2 and Subversion on openSUSE 11.4 solved

Preface

This should not be a complete tutorial on how to set up a Subversion repository and Apache2 on openSUSE, but should tackle a specific problem I had during configuration.

Here I describe my setup and configuration I’m running for having httpd and svnserve working in such a way, that I can browse the Subversion repositories via http:// in a random webbrowser (either directly or in a more user-friendly way with WebSVN). For security and privacy reasons only a small list of defined users can access (read and/or write) the webserver and repositories.

Background

After migrating my local workstation from Ubuntu 10.04 to openSUSE 11.4 I had to set up Apache2 with Subversion (svnserve) again for my private repository. Numerous tutorials are available on-line. Some are specific for openSUSE as this one. Some time ago I used this one for setting up everything under Ubuntu, which worked like charm.

However, following the above tutorial for openSUSE did not quite worked out for me and it took me quite a while to figure out the exact problem.

Sidemark

I doubt the way I did it is the way everyone should do it. For example, using the same user for httpd and svnserve is probably not the best solution. However, I was not able to separate this yet and I am happy for any criticism, hints and suggestions. In addition, it might be desirable using https:// instead of http://.

Short

Having the SVN repository root in /srv/svn, the vhost root in /srv/www/ and declaring an alias /svn pointing to /srv/svn (Alias /svn "/srv/svn") in /etc/apache2/conf.d/subversion.conf is throwing up Apache’s DAV SVN module (as described here).

Browsing the repository in a random webbrowser is possible and does not throw any warnings or errors. But when using svn {import|checkout|commit} the following error message is displayed

svn: Repository moved permanently to 'http://svn.test.com/myproject/'; please relocate

The solution is moving the SVN repository root physically to /srv/www/svn and removing the Alias definition in /etc/apache2/conf.d/subversion.conf.

Detailed Configuration

####Subversion (svnserve) Define /srv/www/svn as the Subversion root directory by editing SVNSERVE_OPTIONS in /etc/sysconf/svnserve. In addition, SVNSERVE_USERID is changed to wwwrun and SVNSERVE_GROUPID to www.

Create the Subversion root directory svn in /srv/www and change the owner to wwwrun:www. With the usual svnadmin create myproject you create the repositories.

Finally make sure the user wwwrun has read, write and execute rights for the complete /srv/www/svn path. If it has not for /srv but for /srv/www it will very likely not work.

Apache2 (httpd)

After installation through YAST, there is a template config file in /etc/apache2/conf.d called subversion.conf. Make sure the complete mod_alias.c block is commented out. In my case I also left the /srv/svn/html block commented out.

For each project a separate Location block needs to be defined. In my case I only want the users user1 and user2 having access to the repository — no one else. These users are defined in /etc/apache2/users.cred with the standard htpasswd2 method. Thus, the Location block looks like this:

<Location /svn/myproject>
  DAV svn
  SVNPath /srv/www/svn/myproject
  Order allow,deny
  Allow from all
  AuthType Basic
  AuthName "Project 1"
  AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/users.cred
  Require user user1 user2
</Location>

As usual you also can define user groups in /etc/apache2/groups.cred and use AuthGroupFile /etc/apache2/groups.cred and Require group — or any other authorisation method.

Make sure, mod_dav and mod_dav_svn are loaded. One way is to append dav and dav_svn to the line APACHE_MODULES in /etc/sysconf/apache2.

WebSVN

After installation through YAST use /etc/websvn/config.php for configuration. This file should be self-explaining.

Finally restart svnserve and Apache2 and everything should be fine.

Remark: This text has been cross-posted to the openSUSE Forums on June 8th, 2011