This is quick guide, howto Backup (dump) and Restore (load) SVN (Subversion) repository on Linux. This is actually very simple and important task. SVN backup and restore is useful when you want to move your repos to new server or you need to recover your data. I assume here that you have Subversion (SVN) installed and you have existing repositories. If you installed and created testrepo with earlier guide then you can check real examples.
1. Backup (dump) SVN (Subversion) repository
1.1 Create Dump from SVN (Subversion) repository
svnadmin dump /path/to/reponame > /path/to/reponame.dump
Real example
svnadmin dump /var/www/svn/testrepo > /backups/testrepo.dump
1.2 Gzip Created Dump
gzip -9 /path/to/reponame.dump
Real example
gzip -9 /backups/testrepo.dump
1.3 SVN Dump and Gzip Dump with One-liner
svnadmin dump /path/to/reponame | gzip -9 > /path/to/reponame.dump.gz
Real example
svnadmin dump /var/www/svn/testrepo | gzip -9 > /backups/testrepo.dump.gz
2. Restore (load) SVN (Subversion) repository
2.1 Unzip Dump File
gunzip /path/to/reponame.dump.gz
Real example
gunzip /backups/testrepo.dump.gz
2.2 Create Empty SVN (Subversion) Repository
svnadmin create /path/to/reponame
Real example
svnadmin create /var/www/svn/testrepo
2.3 Setup SVN (Subversion) Repository Permissions
chown -R svnuser:svngroup /path/to/reponame
## If you use SELinux then remember also set security context ##
chcon -R -t httpd_sys_content_t /path/to/reponame
## Following enables commits over http ##
chcon -R -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t /path/to/reponame
Real example
chown -R apache:apache /var/www/svn/testrepo
## Set security context ##
chcon -R -t httpd_sys_content_t /var/www/svn/testrepo
## Following enables commits over http ##
chcon -R -t httpd_sys_rw_content_t /var/www/svn/testrepo
2.4 Load Data to Repository from SVN (Subversion) Backup
svnadmin load /path/to/reponame < /path/to/reponame.dump
Real example
svnadmin load /var/www/svn/testrepo < /backups/testrepo.dump
3. Automatic SVN (Subversion) Repository Backups
3.1 Edit Crontab
crontab -e
3.2 Add SVN Dump Command to Crontab
@daily svnadmin dump /path/to/reponame > /path/to/reponame.dump
## OR ##
@weekly svnadmin dump /path/to/reponame > /path/to/reponame.dump
Real example
@weekly svnadmin dump /var/www/svn/testrepo > /backups/testrepo.dump
3.3 More Advanced SVN Dump Example with Time and Date and Gzip
@daily svnadmin dump /path/to/reponame | gzip -9 > /path/to/reponame-$(date +"\%Y-\%m-\%d-\%T").dump.gz
Real example
@daily svnadmin dump /var/www/svn/testrepo | gzip -9 > /backups/testrepo-$(date +"\%Y-\%m-\%d-\%T").dump.gz
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