Getting Started.

In these exercises you will get to practice using a version control system, Subversion. In these exercises we will be using the SmartSVN client because it is cross-platform. Download and install the SmartSVN GUI from here. You may also choose to use a command-line client, or another Subversion client. If you do so, you’ll have to adapt the solutions we give to your client since our solutions are for the SmartSVN client.

Please attempt these exercises by looking back at what you learned in the Version Control lecture. If you get stuck, or don’t know what to do, there are links to solutions at the bottom of each exercise.

Exercise 1: Checking out.

We’ve set up a repository for the class. The repository URL is:

http://svn.software-carpentry.org/spring2011

You will need a username and password to access the repository. Your username is your family name followed by the first letter of your first name, all lower case with spaces removed. So, “John von Neumann” would have the username “vonneumannj“. Your password is “swc2011″.

1. Use SmartSVN to check out a working copy of your repository.

Solution.

Exercise 2: Modifying and Committing.

In your working copy you should see a folder called “participants” containing a folder with the username of each member of the class, including your own. You should find two files in your folder: planets.txt and temperature.txt.

1. Open temperature.txt, and change the “January Low” for Winnipeg to -23.5.
2. Save the file.
3. Commit your change to the repository, being sure to include an informative comment.
4. When prompted for authentication, your user name is, again, your last name, followed by the first letter of your first name. Your password is swc2011.

Solution.

Exercise 3: Modifying and Committing… Again.

1. Open planets.txt, and add a new second line, with * 10^6 miles typed directly under Mean Distance From Sun. (See the picture below).
2. Save the file.
3. Commit your change to the repository, being sure to include an informative comment.

Solution

Exercise 4: Resolve a Conflict

In this exercise, a different user is going to make a change to your planets.txt file and check it in before you check in your changes to the same file. This will mean you will have to resolve the conflicting lines before you can check in your changes.

We have written a special program that modifies the planets.txt in your repository folder as if it were another user. Visit the following URL:


http://svn.software-carpentry.org/vc_exercise_4.cgi

and type in your username. When you hit submit you should receive a message saying planets.txt was successfully modified. DO NOT UPDATE YOUR WORKING COPY YET. Please follow the instructions below.

1. Open up your copy of planets.txt
2. There’s a typo! Change “Marz” to “Mars”.
3. * 10^6 miles isn’t very readable. Change it to million miles.
4. Save the file.
5. Try to commit your changes. You should get an error.
6. Update, resolve any conflicts, and commit your changes.

Solution

Exercise 5: Reversing Local Changes.

1. Open temperature.txt, and change the January high for Toronto to +600.
2. Save the file, and close your text editor.
3. Now use SVN to undo the change you made.

Solution

Exercise 6: Reversing Committed Changes.

1. Again, open temperature.txt, and change the January high for Toronto to +600.
2. Save the file, and close your text editor.
3. Commit your changes.
4. Use SVN to reverse the changes in the latest version of the repository.

Solution

Exercise 7: Adding and Committing a New File.

You will now make a new file, and add it to the repository.

1. Make a new file called “interests.txt” in your personal repository folder.
2. This file should contain a single line that starts with your name, followed by a colon, followed by a comma-separated list of your research interests. For example:
   

   Henrietta Leavitt: astronomy, Cepheid variables, period-luminosity relationship

3. Add this file to the repository.
4. Commit your change to the repository, being sure to include an informative comment.

Solution

Exercise 8: Editing a shared file.

In this exercise, the unexpected may happen. You are going to add what you wrote in your personal interests.txt file in Exercise 7, to an interests.txt file shared by the rest of the class. Depending on who else is working on these exercises at the same time as you are, you might find you need to merge your changes in with theirs. Who knows!

1. Open up the interests.txt file that is in the top-level folder of the repository (i.e. at the same level as the participants folder.
2. Add your name and interests on a new line, as you did in Exercise 7.
3. Commit your changes with a useful log message. You may need to update and resolve conflicts before you do.