Chapter 8.  Integrating with Other Tools

Chapter 8. Integrating with Other Tools As a client user, the Subversion command-line svn program provides you with all of the tools that you need to interact with a Subversion repository. The command line is not always the most effective way to use Subversion though. If you program in an integrated development environment (IDE), for example, it is helpful to be able to perform all of your updates, commits, and other SVN commands from within the framework of the IDE. A GUI can also be useful if you use SVN too infrequently to learn the command-line tools effectively (or if you just don't have the time necessary to learn). Sometimes, other tools are also necessary because you don't have access to the command-line tool. Subversion has a library of functions that programmers can use to develop new tools to interact with repositories, which makes the creation of tools beyond the svn command much easier than it is with many other version control systems. Accordingly, many very good integration tools have already been developed. In fact, so many have been developed that discussing them all here would be impossible. Instead, this chapter will give you an overview of several of the tools that are out there, which will give you a basis for finding and learning about the use of other tools.