Subversion web development question.

[Philip Hallstrom]

>> Why would you need to be root?  Here's what we do at work:
>
> Because /usr/local/www/apache22/data is owned by root.  I guess I mistakenly 
> figured that this is where the files should go.  I know that you can 
> configure Apache to point to any directory, but was unsure of the 
> consequences of pointing it at directories outside of 
> /usr/local/www/apache22/data.

if it's your dev server, point it to wherever is most convenient.

>> The development server is at the data center (since we're all remote).
>> Apache has been configured to run several name based virtual servers and
>> looks for the document root in a 'cpr' in our home directory. (cpr is
>> the initials of our project)
>>
>> For those of us that like the CLI and working directly on the server,
>> the 'cpr' directory is also our subversion working directory.  So I edit
>> a file, test it, like it, commit it. repeat.
>>
>> Our designers don't like CLI.  What we've done for them is to set them
>> up with TortioseSVN on their workstations.  They check out the
>> repository on their desktop.  They make changes.  When they want to
>> test, they run rsync (via cygwin and a shell script) that syncs only the
>> files they've changed (and skips all the .svn sub dirs) up to the
>> server.  They test.  They like, they commit using TortioseSVN.  All of
>> thise happens over a SSH tunnel.
>>
>> At no point in any of this do any of us need to be root....
>>
>> If you can get your dev environment running locally it will be easier
>> since you won't have to "upload to test", but depending on your
>> situation that might not be reasonable.
>>
>> -philip
>
> What you suggest makes perfect sense, I wasn't sure if you could point Apache 
> directly at a directory within Subversion's structure or not. I do have one

I think you should read more about subversion as I think you are confusing 
a svn repository with a svn working directory...

> more question.  From a security standpoint would it be safer to point to a 
> symlink within Apache's existing directory structure that points to 
> /usr/home/svnDirectory, or configure Apache to point directly to 
> /usr/home/svnDirectory?  It's probably a moot point, but I'm still unsure of 
> myself when it comes to messing around with permissions within FreeBSD and 
> don't like making changes to the defaults without asking first.

Doesn't make a bit of difference.  I'd avoid the symlink simply cause 
there isn't any reason to have it.