Subclipse SVN plug-in for Eclipse

10/10/10 - had to post something.

I've experiences utter frustration with the SVN command-line client to maintain the various projects I've been working on and the lack of a Linux equivalent to TortoiseSVN. Typical example, I added a directory to the repository by mistake before running a clean operation. It took 20 minutes trying to delete files, cleanup commands to get back to a starting place with the files I really wanted to add.

The only apparent GUI for SVN on Linux appears to be through an Eclipse plug-in. Since I am moving my projects to Eclipse anyway this is a no-brainer.

Subclipse

Subclipse is the Eclipse client that integrates directly with the Eclipse IDE, even my Eclipse CDT IDE works. The download instructions are out of date with the Helios package of Eclipse (or Linux version). But you can more or less follow the instructions they give.

The installation is performed from within Eclipse

1. Start Eclipse
2. Help > Install New Software
3. In the Install wizard, Work with: field, enter the URL for the Subclipse version from the download and install page of the Subclipse site. In my case: http://subclipse.tigris.org/update_1.6.x.
4. I selected all the packages there, Core SVNKit Library, Optional JNA Library, Subclipse.
5. Finish your way through the wizard to install everything.
6. After the install you have to restart Eclipse.
7. I got a JavaHL error on start up of Eclipse, having to do with the JNA library. This is another topic discussed on the Subclipse wiki.
8. I ignored the error and Subclipse worked so I don't know how serious it is. I since went and installed then performed the JavaHL test cases successfully.
9. Note: I already had the SVN subversion command-line client installed, that may be a prerequisite, I am not sure to be honest.


The usage of Subclipse is not that clear-cut and documentation is lacking.

1. You need to set up a repository. Under Window > Open Perspective > Other choose SVN Repository Exploring. You can add a new repository if you have the URL (I had already created a local repository with the command line client, "file:///home/ammianus/svn-repo").
2. From the SVN Repository Explorer perspective, you can right-click a folder in your repository then click Import..., select a project in your workspace and you are good to go.
3. Once a project is associated with a location in your repository, if you right-click on a project or file > Context Menu > Team > * there will be all the normal SVN commands you would need. You will also notice that next to the project name will be the SVN repository location in brackets [].
4. You can see the behavior of Subclipse in a Console view in which you can switch to the SVN console output.