The goal of the Subversion project is to build a version control system that is a compelling replacement for CVS in the open source community. It is developed and distributed by the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). Apache Subversion is a command-line software similar to the Git or Bazaar version control systems.
It’s similar to CVS, but better
Apache Subversion includes the most recent CVS features, as well as various other features that will make this project much better than CVS, including versioned renaming, versioned symbolic links, versioned copying, versions deleting, versioned directories and free-form versioned metadata. It also comes with native client/server, layered library design that features clean APIs.
Efficiently handles binary files
In addition, the software comes with support for tagging and branching operations, commits are truly atomic and the program efficiently handles binary files. Other features include merge tracking, file locking, the ability to preserve executable flags, parseable output, localized messages, interactive conflict resolution, repository read-only mirroring, write-through proxy over WebDAV, changelists, as well as bindings for numerous programming languages.
Supports DeltaV and WebDAV protocols
Among other features, we can mention an Apache network server option, with support for the DeltaV and WebDAV protocols, a standalone server option, native client/server, layered library design, versioning of symbolic links, parseable output, and localized messages.
Supported operating systems and availability
The project is supported on all GNU/Linux operating systems and can be easily installed from the source archive provided by Apache or via the default software repositories of the respective distribution. Both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures are supported at this time.
Choose between database or plain-file repository
The client and server protocol sends diffs in both directions, and users will be able to choose between database or plain-file repository implementations. The Apache Subversion project is free software released under an Apache/BSD-style open source license.
