Using Subversion in Xcode

I used this page as a reference for setting up my XCode projects with SVN. It is a good starting point, but I'll give a short walkthrough of what I did (since the page isn't really all that helpful!).

A couple notes: I'm using XCode 3.1.2 and Subversion 1.4.2. I've heard of problems with using SVN 1.5, but there are ways around that which I wont get into.

First off, I had a repository already set up and created the XCode project afterwards.

1. In XCode you need to set it up to know about your repository using the SCM tab in the preferences window. Enter:

   1. A Name (this is arbitrary and used for reference with XCode)
   2. The scheme (http or svn)
   3. The host (i.e. svn.example.com)
   4. The path (the exact path to the SVN repository located on the host)
   5. The port (only if it isn't the default)
   6. And a username and password used to access the repository.

   The URL will be auto-filled as you enter the other fields. Hit "OK" when all the fields are good and XCode says it can connect.

2. Then open your project and do a "Get Info" (Round blue icon with an exclamation mark) on the project itself. Under the "General" tab down at the bottom is an option for SCM, select the repository you made in 1 and close the window.

3. Now open SCM in the menu-bar and go to "Repositories." Hopefully you've built your repository right using branches, trunk, and other directories at the base level because XCode doesn't have support for checking out the root directory. So go one directory at a time down the list and click the "Checkout" button and select a directory to check it out to (I recommend a "Code" or "Source" or "SVN" directory inside your XCode project directory). You cannot checkout multiple directories at once, but you can tell the next directory to checkout before the first has finished and XCode with queue the commands.

4. Once that is all done go back to your XCode project window and "Add -> Existing Files..." to your project. Select the directory you've checked out the repository to and I recommend using the "Create folder references" option instead of the "Recursively create groups" option because added and removed items will be automatically reflected in a Folder Reference but not in a Group.

Now you've imported your SVN repository into an XCode project. From here any time you make a change, simply Right-Click (Control-Click if you only have 1 button) in the file and at the bottom of the context menu are the SCM options for comparing, committing, updating, and discarding (reverting) the file. You can also use the SCM menu in the menubar for file or project-wide updates/commits/reverts.

I know this is not quite what you asked, but I wouldn't rely much on the use of SVN from Xcode as what you can do with it is very limited. It's useful for being able to do a diff or annotate direct from the IDE but not a great deal else. I don't think it's any substitute for using a separate standalone client such as SmartSVN or Versions.

You also have to jump through a number of hoops to get Xcode to work with SVN version 1.5 onwards, so that's something to be aware of before installing a standalone client. If in doubt, check out a sandbox first.

I second the comment by the_mandrill, SVN support from within XCode is very limited, especially if you're used to Eclipse.

I also don't understand why everyone seems to need visual clients. I keep a terminal window open on my project directory and I have no problems interacting with SVN from the command line.