Docker Subversion Server with svn:// protocol

This Docker Subversion Server offers access via svn protocoll.

This Docker container is intended to run on Synology DSM 7.x, as a replacement for the SVN server package (dropped by Synology). However, it can be used on other servers as well. (maybe with small adaptions.)

There are two variants available: (I recommend the svn version)

Long-Term solution
Meanwhile I switched to Git running Gitea Server from the SynoCommunity. It works quite well for me.
https://synocommunity.com/package/gitea

Docker Subversion Server with svn:// protocol

SVN Access Methods

Generally a svn repository can be accessed via different protocolls:

http:// or https:// webdav access via apache
svn:// protocoll
svn+ssh:// access method

Since each protocoll uses different authentication methods it is hard to combine different access protocols/methods.

See: https://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.7/svn.serverconfig.choosing.html

Quick start for Synology DSM 7.x users

Quick start instructions for users not interested in details.

Preconditions

Following is assumed:

You run Synology DSM 7.x on your NAS (can be tested with 6.2 before update)
Docker package is installed
SVN repos are stored in /volume1/svn/
Optional: Git server package is installed (for cloning from github)

Build and Run the container

To run the svn server, first ssh into your NAS and execute:

cd /volume1/svn/
git clone https://github.com/MarkusH1975/svnserver.svn.mh.git
cd svnserver.svn.mh/
sudo ./start.sh

SVN copy existing repository

Create a Backup! Copy your existing SVN-Repositories into the folder ./volume/svnrepo/.

sudo cp -Rv /volume1/svn/myRepo1 /volume1/svn/svnserver.svn.mh/volume/svnrepo/
sudo chmod 777 -Rv /volume1/svn/svnserver.svn.mh/volume/svnrepo/

If you used already the svn:// protocol (DSM6.2 package) your old username and password is still stored in the repository. (See SVN access control)

SVN create new repository

sudo docker exec svnserver.svn svnadmin create /volume/svnrepo/myRepo1
cd /volume1/svn/svnserver.svn.mh/volume/svnrepo/
ls
    myRepo1

SVN access control

To configure the ACL via svn:// protocol, go to your repository's subfolder conf.

cd /volume1/svn/svnserver.svn.mh/volume/svnrepo/myRepo1/conf/

Configure svnserve as follows myRepo1:

sudo vim svnserve.conf 


[general]
# set anonymus access to none (default is read)
anon-access = none

# set authenticated access to write
auth-access = write

# set password storage file
password-db = passwd

Set username and password for myRepo1:

sudo vim passwd

[users]
harry = harryssecret
sally = sallyssecret

SVN checkout on client

Now you can checkout your repository with on the client

svn co --username harry svn://serverip/myRepo1/

SVN first commit on client

cd myRepo1
svn info 

touch testfile.txt
svn add testfile.txt
svn commit -m "First commit"

SVN client password storage

Password storage on client side seems to depend on the svn version and settings in your local config files. Checkout Goolge. Plain password storage is meanwhile disabled: https://stackoverflow.com/a/61493621

vim ~/.subversion/config
vim ~/.subversion/server

svn --version

Relocation of your working copy

If you don't want to checkout your repository again after the move to Docker, you can relocate your working copy.

First check actual server location with svn info
Relocate with svn relocate svn://serverip/myRepo1/
Check again with svn info

Docker configurations

Volumes

Mountpoint	Container Folder	Description
`./volume/monitorix.conf/`	`/etc/monitorix/`	Monitorix configuration.
`./volume/monitorix.data/`	`/var/lib/monitorix/`	Monitorix data.
`./volume/svnrepo/`	`/volume/svnrepo/`	Folder for SVN repositories.

Ports

Host Port	Container Port	Description
`0.0.0.0:8890 TCP`	`8080 TCP`	monitorix, http://serverip:8890/monitorix
`0.0.0.0:3690 TCP`	`3690 TCP`	svnserve port for svn:// protocol

Environment Variables

Environment variables to control entrypoint.sh script. Already set by default.

Env var	Description
`ENABLE_CRON=false`	Start cron, not used. Set to true if you want to set up cron jobs, e.g. for creation of regular backups.
`ENABLE_MONITORIX=false`	Start monitorix, system monitoring tool.
`ENABLE_SVNSERVER=true`	Start svnserve

Image Components

Ubuntu 22.04

Was chosen as the latest Ubuntu release.

Tini-Init process

Tini is added to have a valid init process, running as PID1. Read more information on the project page. https://github.com/krallin/tini. Tini init process together with the provided entrypoint-script, is able to run multiple services, including graceful shutdown. It can be used as a template for other docker projects. If you attach to the container, the entrypoint-script offers a micro CLI. Type help for help.

Entrypoint-Script

The entrypoint.sh is the central bash script, which is started from tini. It can start multiple services and offers graceful shutdown of the started services. (Tini jumps in for unhandled processes.) Furthermore the script will initialize the defined volume folder.

Since this script is the main docker process, it cannot end and needs to run in an endless loop. To make something useful, it offers a micro command line interface, which can be accessed via docker attach. Please attach to it and type help for more information.

Cron

Optionally cron can be started. It is currently not used in this container and therefore by default disabled.

Monitorix

Monitorix is a lightweight system monitoring tool. Optionally started to monitor docker container activity. It is by default disabled in docker compose. It will need some time until you will see the first data, be patient. It is reachable with http://serverip:8890/monitorix.

SVN server

SVN server svnserve is started and listen on port 3690.

Docker build (force cache invalidation)

Sometimes docker build has problems to recognize that the build cache should be invalidated at some certain point. For example, if the entrypoint.sh script has changed, docker build is probably still using the cache and does not add the new version of the file. To force cache invalidation at a certain point the argument CACHE_DATE is used. Have a look at the Dockerfile and start.sh, how it is used.