The repository called Random Wok Repository I set up in Documents/Progging/Repositories needs some internal structure. That's because I am going to have it contain virtual folders called trunk, releases, and branches (I prefer releases over tags).

In the original Random Wok project folder I create the new structure: trunk, branches, releases. And then copy the current contents into trunk and delete the Build folder.

Now I am ready to do the import. I need to do this from the command line. First I change my working directory to the changing to the original project folder (yellow in my diagrams) and then import using svn import. I have to give a check-in message with -m or else svn complains with an error (no editor set up). The dot in the svn import line below references the current directory. The repository is defined with a URL that starts with file:///:

Now the structure looks like this:

Everything below Random Wok/ in red is in the repository and so the folders shown are virtual folders. They can be referenced with URLs passed to svn that start with file:/// by including the path to the repository and then the path inside the repository.

Now revision 1 is in the repository I can use a utility called svnX to inspect it. I no longer need the Terminal window open. svnX will not recognise an empty repository, so up until now I could not use it. I download snvX from Apple and install it. Svnx is a GUI front end to svn.

The prefs are already set up for me:

In the Repositories panel I add a new repository pressing +, giving the repository a name, and dragging the Random Wok Repository folder onto the Path field. Now svnX knows where the repository is:

I double-click on the repository to open it in svnX and look at the contents:

The lower part is a folder browser that shows the structure of the revision select in the pane above. I can see the import message and a list of revisions with just one revision in it. The svn mkdir button is used to make more virtual folders in the repository and svn copy and svn move button copy and move virtual folder trees in the repository.

I no longer need the original project file, so I can archive it to a ZIP file to get it out of the way:

In its current state I cannot use my project. It is inside the repository and inaccessible to XCode and other tools. So the next step is to check out a copy.

The other parts of this series can be found via the Cocoa page.

Tags: Subversion, Random Wok, Importing