This is step-by-step with small explanation. There a little difference between windows and Linux way of working with local svn. You will need 5-10 min of time to start working with new repo.

Woks for:

windows xp or Linux
svn 1.6.* with svnadmin command installed

Should also work for:

any windows
other svn versions

1

Select or create directory where svn repo will live

1.1

Windows , DOS command line :

You can use dos command line prompt. I will put my repo in c:\repos\localsvn :

> mkdir c:\repos\localsvn
> cd c:\repos\localsvn

1.2

Linux , bash:

You can use bash command line prompt. I will put my repo in /repos/localsvn :

> mkdir -p /repos/localsvn
> cd /repos/localsvn

2

Create repository

2.1

Windows & Linux:

> svnadmin create repo1

If you get no error and can dir repo1 (win) or ls repo1 (Linux), repository is created.

3

Work with local svn repository

3.1

Windows, DOS command line :

Here are some basic things you would normally do, svn repo is local and we use “file:///” protocol:

List local svn repo

> svn ls file:///C:/repos/localsvn/repo1

Create local svn trunk directory:

> svn mkdir file:///C:/repos/localsvn/repo1/trunk -m "make trunk"

Committed revision 2.

Checkout from local svn trunk into some dir ( c:/temp/repo1trunk ):

> svn co file:///C:/repos/localsvn/repo1/trunk c:/temp/repo1trunk

Checked out revision 2.

Add and commit file to local svn

> cd c:\temp\repo1trunk
> echo "test" > test.txt
> svn add test.txt
A         test.txt

> svn commit -m "1st commit"
Adding         test.txt
Transmitting file data .
Committed revision 3.

3.2

Linux, bash :

Same as on windows, just use Linux path file:///repos/localsvn/repo1 instead of windows path file:///C:/repos/localsvn/repo1

3.3

Windows, Tortoise SVN:

If you have Tortoise SVN, you can use you local repo with the GUI.

1. Open windows explorer and go to C:/repos/localsvn/repo1
2. Now press [mouse right button] and select TortoiseSVN->repo-browser
3. Open it and see that URL dialog shows file:///repos/localsvn/repo1
4. Press [ok] and open Repository browser.
5. Now you can do all things you would normally do with any svn repository

have fun