1svnserve(8) System Manager's Manual svnserve(8)
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6 svnserve - Server for the 'svn' repository access method
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9 svnserve [options]
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12 svnserve allows access to Subversion repositories using the svn network
13 protocol. It can both run as a standalone server process, or it can
14 run out of inetd. You must choose a mode of operation when you start
15 svnserve. The following options are recognized:
16 -d, --daemon
18 Causes svnserve to run in daemon mode. svnserve backgrounds
19 itself and accepts and serves TCP/IP connections on the svn port
20 (3690, by default).
21 --listen-port=port
23 Causes svnserve to listen on port when run in daemon mode.
24 --listen-host=host
26 Causes svnserve to listen on the interface specified by host,
27 which may be either a hostname or an IP address.
28 --foreground
30 When used together with -d, this option causes svnserve to stay in
31 the foreground. This option is mainly useful for debugging.
32 -i, --inetd
34 Causes svnserve to use the stdin/stdout file descriptors, as is
35 appropriate for a daemon running out of inetd.
36 -h, --help
38 Displays a usage summary and exits.
39 --version
41 Print svnserve's version and the repository filesystem back-end(s)
42 a particular svnserve supports.
43 -r root, --root=root
45 Sets the virtual root for repositories served by svnserve. The
46 pathname in URLs provided by the client will be interpreted rela‐
47 tive to this root, and will not be allowed to escape this root.
48 -R --read-only
50 Force all write operations through this svnserve instance to be
51 forbidden, overriding all other access policy configuration. Do
52 not use this option to set general repository access policy - that
53 is what the conf/svnserve.conf repository configuration file is
54 for. This option should be used only to restrict access via a
55 certain method of invoking svnserve - for example, to allow write
56 access via SSH, but not via a svnserve daemon, or to create a
57 restricted SSH key which is only capable of read access.
58 -t, --tunnel
60 Causes svnserve to run in tunnel mode, which is just like the
61 inetd mode of operation (serve one connection over stdin/stdout)
62 except that the connection is considered to be pre-authenticated
63 with the username of the current uid. This flag is selected by
64 the client when running over a tunnel agent.
65 --tunnel-user=username
67 When combined with --tunnel, overrides the pre-authenticated user‐
68 name with the supplied username. This is useful in combination
69 with the ssh authorized_key file's "command" directive to allow a
70 single system account to be used by multiple committers, each hav‐
71 ing a distinct ssh identity.
72 -T, --threads
74 When running in daemon mode, causes svnserve to spawn a thread
75 instead of a process for each connection. The svnserve process
76 still backgrounds itself at startup time.
77 --config-file=filename
79 When specified, svnserve reads filename once at program startup
80 and caches the svnserve configuration. The password and autho‐
81 rization configurations referenced from filename will be loaded on
82 each connection. svnserve will not read any per-repository
83 conf/svnserve.conf files when this option is used. See the
84 svnserve.conf(5) man page for details of the file format for this
85 option.
86 --pid-file=filename
88 When specified, svnserve will write its process ID to filename.
89 -X, --listen-once
91 Causes svnserve to accept one connection on the svn port, serve
92 it, and exit. This option is mainly useful for debugging.
93 Unless the --config-file option was specified on the command line, once
95 the client has selected a repository by transmitting its URL, svnserve
96 reads a file named conf/svnserve.conf in the repository directory to
97 determine repository-specific settings such as what authentication
98 database to use and what authorization policies to apply. See the
99 svnserve.conf(5) man page for details of that file format.
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102 svnserve.conf(5)
103 svnserve(8)