What is the Difference Between SVN and TortoiseSVN

October 2022 · 3 minute read

The main difference between SVN and TortoiseSVN is that the SVN is a distributed version control system while TortoiseSVN is an SVN client implemented as a Microsoft Windows shell extension.

Overall, Version control is the process of managing the changes made to the documents, computer programs, web sites, and other data. It is a component of software configuration management. Version control is also called source control or revision control. There are various version control systems. In brief, SVN (Subversion) is one of them, whereas TortoiseSVN is a Subversion client.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is SVN
     -Definition, Functionality
2. What is TortoiseSVN
     -Definition, Functionality 
3. Difference Between SVN and TortoiseSVN
     -Comparison of key differences

Key Terms

Apache Subversion, SVN, TortoiseSVN, Version Control System

Difference Between SVN and TortoiseSVN - Comparison Summary

What is SVN

SVN stands for Apache Subversion, and it is a distributed software version control system. SVN helps the developers to save the versions of the source code, web pages and documentation. Moreover, it is used in various projects such as Apache Software Foundation, Free Pascal, and SourceForge.

Difference Between SVN and TortoiseSVN

Overall, SVN comes with multiple features. The commit command it used to make permanent changes. SVN provides commit operations as true atomic operations. It is possible to rename, copy, move and remove files. SVN is capable of saving all the versions. Therefore, the developer can view the current and the previous version histories. Also, it provides branching and merging capabilities.
Furthermore, SVN also has language bindings for various bindings such as C#, Java, Python, PHP, Ruby, and supports native binary files.

Types of SVN Repository Storage

Three types of SVN repository storage are as follows.

Berkeley DB (deprecated) – The original SVN development used this package.

FSFS – It works faster than Berkeley DB backend on directories with a large number of files.

FSX – It is a newer version to FSFS.

What is TortoiseSVN

TortoiseSVN is a subversion client implemented as a Microsoft Windows Shell extension which is a free software released under the GNU General Public License. It allows programmers to manage different versions of the source code of their programs. Additionally, TortoiseSVN provides TortoiseMerge utility, which helps to compare two files.

Moreover, Programmer can integrate TortoiseSVN into Microsoft Visual Studio using a third party library such as VsTortoise. However, the newer versions such as TortoiseSVN 1.9 and later require a Windows Vista or latest operating system.

Difference Between SVN and TortoiseSVN

Definition

SVN is a software versioning control system distributed as open source under the Apache License. In contrast, TortoiseSVN is a Subversion client, implemented as a Microsoft Windows shell extension. Thus, this is the main difference between SVN and TortoiseSVN.

Language

SVN was written in C while TortoiseSVN was written in C++.

Basis

SVN is a version control system whereas TortoiseSVN is a SubVersion (SVN) client.

Initial Release

SVN was initially released in 2000 while TortoiseSVN was initially released in 2002.

Operating System

SVN is cross-platform. On the other hand, TortoiseSVN is for Microsoft Windows. Hence, this is also an important difference between SVN and TortoiseSVN.

License

Also, another difference between SVN and TortoiseSVN is that the SVN has the Apache License 2.0 whereas TortoiseSVN has the GNU General Public License.

Conclusion

The main difference between SVN and TortoiseSVN is that the SVN is a distributed version control system while TortoiseSVN is an SVN client implemented as a Microsoft Windows shell extension. In brief, SVN is a version control system. On the other hand, TortoiseSVN is a Subversion client.

References:

1.“Version Control.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 24 Dec. 2018 via Commons Wikimedia
2.“Apache Subversion.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 May 2019 via Commons Wikimedia
3.“TortoiseSVN.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Jan. 2019 via Commons Wikimedia

Image Courtesy:

1.1.”583537″ via Pixabay

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