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Is it possible to setup SVN repo/server on google drive or dropbox etc?

I want to put my PhD project under version control. The data has to stay private and only accessible to me and my supervisors. I can't afford to pay so I want free service.

I have experience with Tortoise SVN.

If setting up a SVN Server is impossible/very difficult then are there other reliable alternatives which offer Free Prtivate SVN repository.

Khurram Majeed
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  • Your school should have some sort of version control on their server that an administrator could grant you access to, at least in my experience. – davepmiller Oct 19 '12 at 17:03

6 Answers6

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I have used Dropbox as my Prive or protected svn. Try the link below. http://foyzulkarim.blogspot.com/2012/12/dropbox-as-svn-repository.html

Foyzul Karim
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19

For free private SVN hosting try the following:

Or use BitBucket for free private git/mercurial repositories

kshahar
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    I have seen [Assembla](https://www.assembla.com) which offers free 1GB storage. Beanstalk only supports 1 user, 1 repo and 100MB storage, while RiouxSVN only supports 50MB storage. So I think Assemble will be a better choice for me. You mentioned BitBucket, is their any benifit in using Git/Mercurial system over svn. FYI, I will be using Intellij IDEA for committing my code to server. – Khurram Majeed Oct 20 '12 at 11:05
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    Intellij IDEA supports both git and mercurial. See for example: http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/69308/git-for-personal-one-man-projects-overkill, http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/35074/im-a-subversion-geek-why-should-i-consider-or-not-consider-mercurial-or-git-or – kshahar Oct 20 '12 at 11:32
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    I came to this topic today, and I have another suggestion: [link](http://cloudforge.com/pricing) CloudForge. They offer a free plan with 2GB of disk, Git or SVN, and issues tracking. – Alexandre May 05 '14 at 19:50
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    It appears that CloudForge isn't free. $2.00 a month is their cheapest option – David Small Aug 30 '15 at 22:18
  • Whatever link mentioned in the answer is not free anymore. – Subodh Joshi Aug 26 '16 at 11:10
  • Also use https://app.cloudforge.com/ for free private SVN hosting – John Alexiou Dec 06 '16 at 04:15
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While possible, it's potentially very risky - if you attempt to commit changes to the repository from 2 different locations simultaneously, you'll get a giant mess due to the file conflicts. Get a free private SVN host somewhere, or set up a repository on a server you have access to.

Edit based on a recent experience: If you have files open that are managed by Dropbox and your computer crashes, your files may be truncated to 0 bytes. If this happens to the files which manage your repository, your repository will be corrupted. If you discover this soon enough, you can use Dropbox's "recover old version" feature but you're still taking a risk.

alroc
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    Oh, now I got it why it is a bad idea. Sad... – Pedro77 Feb 07 '15 at 13:32
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    Yes, but If your are the only user, it could be cheap way to save your code. What do u think is this scenario? Two locations means two users or the same user with two computer, something hard to be. – dlopezgonzalez Feb 18 '15 at 09:29
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    It's not that hard to cause a sync problem with Dropbox as a single user. Work on one computer that doesn't have an internet connection, then work on the other computer, then put that first computer back online. Instant conflict. Just don't do it in the first place. – alroc Feb 18 '15 at 13:42
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I made my own subversion repository on my Ubuntu One folder. Then, I imported the files to the repository using svn+ssh and my user account password.

When I try to checkout, I just checkout from my Ubuntu One folder and the commit process its analogue.

You must setup Ubutnu One on the devices that you want to grant access, then checkout the project from this folder to a temporary folder to edit it.

In my case, I use a folder in the Ubuntu One file-system, so I have the repository and my develop-folder in Ubuntu One.

Silvestre Figueroa
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I would try fossil scm and the Chisel hosting service

simple, self contained and easily interchangeable with git should you desire in future

Nigel
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Here's one application that works for me. In our case...I wanted the Sales team to use SVN for certain docs (Price sheets and such)...but a bit over there head.

I setup an Auto SVN like this: - Created a REPO in my SVN server. - Checked out repo into a DB folder call AutoSVN. - I run EasySVN on my PC, which auto commits and updates the REPO.

With he 'Auto', there are no log comments, but not critical for these particular docs.

The Sales guys use the DB folder...and simply maintain the file name of those docs that need version control such as price sheets.

Mike T
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    This answer is highly localised to you and doesn't offer any real help to the original question – Anigel May 15 '13 at 16:08