Version Control with Subversion

Authors: Ben Collins-Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick, C. Michael Pilato

ISBN: 0596004486

This book is an amazing resource for learning the Subversion version control system.  I think the best way to describe it comes largely from the foreword of the book, written by Karl Fogel.  Fogel explains that the book is structured as a Top-Down read, but was built from the Bottom-Up experiences of helping real Subversion users.  This point is also reiterated in the Preface, where the authors point out that they’ve created an appendix just for bottom-up learners so that those readers can quickly get into actual use of Subversion.

Another thing that’s very interesting about the book is that it’s completely free.  The ISBN above is for the O’Reilley publication, which is not free, but you can download the book for free (in a number of formats) at http://svnbook.red-bean.com.

The authors cover everything from day-to-day usage of Subversion, to advanced tasks, to setup and administration of Subversion servers in different ways. Throughout all of this there are examples to illustrate everything, and nearly every page has some sort of witty quip on it.

Version Control with Subversion is well worth having on hand if you have used or will ever use Subversion.  Even if you’ve never heard of Subversion before, it is worth reading at least the first chapter or two.  Many people could benefit from the power and simplicity of Subversion’s capabilities.