svnserve(8)                                           svnserve(8)



NAME
       svnserve - Server for the 'svn' repository access method

SYNOPSIS
       svnserve [options]

DESCRIPTION
       svnserve  allows  access  to Subversion repositories using
       the svn network protocol.  It can both run as a standalone
       server  process,  or  it  can  run out of inetd.  You must
       choose a mode of operation when you start  svnserve.   The
       following options are recognized:


       -d, --daemon
            Causes  svnserve  to  run  in  daemon mode.  svnserve
            backgrounds itself and accepts and serves TCP/IP con-
            nections on the svn port (3690, by default).


       --listen-port=port
            Causes  svnserve to listen on port when run in daemon
            mode.


       --listen-host=host
            Causes svnserve to listen on the interface  specified
            by  host,  which  may  be  either a hostname or an IP
            address.


       --foreground
            When  used  together  with  -d,  this  option  causes
            svnserve  to  stay in the foreground.  This option is
            mainly useful for debugging.


       -i, --inetd
            Causes svnserve to use the stdin/stdout file descrip-
            tors,  as  is appropriate for a daemon running out of
            inetd.


       -h, --help
            Displays a usage summary and exits.


       --version
            Print svnserve's version and the repository  filesys-
            tem back-end(s) a particular svnserve supports.


       -r root, --root=root
            Sets  the  virtual  root  for  repositories served by
            svnserve.  The  pathname  in  URLs  provided  by  the
            client will be interpreted relative to this root, and
            will not be allowed to escape this root.


       -R --read-only
            Force all  write  operations  through  this  svnserve
            instance to be forbidden, overriding all other access
            policy configuration.  Do not use this option to  set
            general  repository  access policy - that is what the
            conf/svnserve.conf repository configuration  file  is
            for.   This  option  should  be used only to restrict
            access via a certain method of  invoking  svnserve  -
            for  example,  to allow write access via SSH, but not
            via a svnserve daemon, or to create a restricted  SSH
            key which is only capable of read access.


       -t, --tunnel
            Causes  svnserve to run in tunnel mode, which is just
            like the inetd mode of operation (serve  one  connec-
            tion over stdin/stdout) except that the connection is
            considered to be pre-authenticated with the  username
            of  the  current  uid.   This flag is selected by the
            client when running over a tunnel agent.


       --tunnel-user=username
            When  combined  with  --tunnel,  overrides  the  pre-
            authenticated  username  with  the supplied username.
            This is useful in combination  with  the  ssh  autho-
            rized_key  file's "command" directive to allow a sin-
            gle system account to be used by multiple committers,
            each having a distinct ssh identity.


       -T, --threads
            When running in daemon mode, causes svnserve to spawn
            a thread instead of a process  for  each  connection.
            The  svnserve  process  still  backgrounds  itself at
            startup time.


       --config-file=filename
            When specified, svnserve reads filename once at  pro-
            gram  startup  and  caches the svnserve configuration
            and any  passwords  and  authorization  configuration
            referenced from filename.  svnserve will not read any
            per-repository  conf/svnserve.conf  files  when  this
            option  is  used.   See the svnserve.conf(5) man page
            for details of the file format for this option.


       --pid-file=filename
            When specified, svnserve will write its process ID to
            filename.


       -X, --listen-once
            Causes  svnserve  to accept one connection on the svn
            port, serve it, and exit.  This option is mainly use-
            ful for debugging.

       Unless  the --config-file option was specified on the com-
       mand line, once the client has selected  a  repository  by
       transmitting   its   URL,  svnserve  reads  a  file  named
       conf/svnserve.conf in the repository directory  to  deter-
       mine repository-specific settings such as what authentica-
       tion database to use and what  authorization  policies  to
       apply.   See  the svnserve.conf(5) man page for details of
       that file format.

SEE ALSO
       svnserve.conf(5)