VisualSVN Server 2.7 Released

We are glad to announce VisualSVN Server 2.7 release that brings new features and an upgrade to the Apache Subversion 1.8.

Note that there was interim VisualSVN Server 2.6 version that was released but not officially announced. Compared with the latest officially announced version, upgrade to VisualSVN Server 2.7 brings the following main changes:

  • New feature: Repository Management Delegation.
  • Reworked authorization system.
  • Upgrade to Apache Subversion 1.8.
  • Several high-impact usability improvements.

Upgrade to the version 2.7 is recommended for all existing VisualSVN Server users. Download VisualSVN Server 2.7 at the download page.

New feature: Repository Management Delegation

The main new feature of VisualSVN Server 2.7 is the Repository Management Delegation. Thanks to this feature, non-administrative users can be assigned as repository supervisors to specific repositories and manage them using the VisualSVN Repository Configurator.

Repository supervisors can manage only repositories which they are assigned to. When a supervisor connects to a repository, he can examine the current repository access permissions and modify them using the rich user interface of Repository Configurator.

All permission modifications performed by repository supervisors are logged to the dedicated VisualSVN Server Management event log which can be used for auditing.

VisualSVN Repository Configurator is a standalone application which does not require administrative permissions for installation and execution. Moreover, Repository Configurator is ready to be deployed automatically through Active Directory Group Policies.

Note
Repository Management Delegation feature is currently available only if your VisualSVN Server is configured for Windows authentication.

Reworked authorization system

When upgrading to VisualSVN Server 2.7, you get the following changes in the authorization system:

  • Move authorization settings to per-repository files. For enhanced isolation of security settings and better performance, each repository now has it's dedicated authorization settings file a '/conf/' folder of a repository. The repositories root no longer has Read / Write permission set for "Everyone" group by default.
  • Migration of server-wide access permissions. As a consequence of the previous change, you are not able to set server-wide access permissions if Subversion authentication is enabled on your server. In order to preserve effective permissions for all users, VisualSVN Server automatically migrates server-wide rules to the repository level during upgrade.
  • Hide repositories in the web browser. A repository is no longer displayed in the list of repositories unless a user has explicit access permissions on the repository root.
  • Windows authorization is now case-sensitive. Repository names and repository filesystem paths are now parsed case-sensitively. The behavior now conforms to the Subversion authentication which is case-sensitive since Apache Subversion 1.7.

Upgrade to Apache Subversion 1.8

Upgrade to Apache Subversion 1.8 brings more than 180 user-visible changes both on the client and server side. It brings a number of new important features, such as:

  • Automatic reintegration merge. Merging to-and-fro between two branches in any order is now possible using the new "automatic merge" feature. Manual reintegrate merges are not required anymore and the '--reintegrate' option of 'svn merge' is now deprecated.
  • Inherited properties. Property inheritance provides a mechanism to find the versioned properties set on the path-wise parents of a given path. New properties 'svn:auto-props' and 'svn:global-ignores' make use of the property inheritance and help to implement repository dictated configuration for automatic property setting and ignore patterns.
  • Neon library support removed in favour of the serf. The serf is an asynchronous HTTP client library that provides significantly better network performance than the neon library.

For the complete list of notable improvements please consider Apache Subversion 1.8 Release Notes.

High-impact usability improvements

At last but not at least, there are several notable functional and usability improvements implemented in VisualSVN Server 2.6 and 2.7.

  • Support for PFX and DER-encoded certificates. The improved certificate management wizard in VisualSVN Server Manager allows you to import certificates in PFX and DER formats.
  • Recently connected computers. For your convenience, "Connect to another computer" dialog now features a recently connected computers list. It allows you to recall VisualSVN Server instances you've recently managed and connect to them instantly.
  • VisualSVN Server Activity log. Access and Operational log events are now stored in the new separate 'VisualSVN Server Activity' log.
  • New repository creation wizard. The new and improved repository creation wizard allows you to pre-define authorization rules for a new repository as well as specify it's default structure.
  • Multi-selection of users and groups in Permissions dialog. For easier and faster authorization management, you can multiselect users and groups in the Security dialog. So you can simultaneously apply permission changes to selected users and groups.
  • Improved VisualSVN Server Manager performance. Expanding Repositories tree with large number of repositories (500>) is much faster in VisualSVN Server 2.7.
  • Automatic check for software updates. To ensure that your VisualSVN Server version is up to date, the check for VisualSVN Server updates is now performed automatically. You will get the notification on your VisualSVN Server Manager dashboard if newer version of VisualSVN Server is available and recommended for upgrade.

For the more detailed list of improvements please consider the following release notes:

End of Life for VisualSVN Server 2.1

Since Subversion 1.6.x series is no longer supported by the Apache Software Foundation, we are announcing End of Life for VisualSVN Server 2.1.x versions. We continue to provide maintenance and technical support for 2.5.x and 2.6.x versions of VisualSVN Server.

Upgrading to VisualSVN Server 2.7

We recommend all users of VisualSVN Server to upgrade to 2.7. Before upgrading please consider the KB64: Upgrading to VisualSVN Server 2.7.

VisualSVN Server 2.7 built with Apache Subversion 1.8 is backward compatible with older clients and immediate upgrade of all software is not required. However, it is recommended to upgrade Subversion clients in order to fully benefit from Subversion 1.8 enhancements.

Upgrading to VisualSVN Server 2.7 may require an additional administrative actions if you are upgrading from VisualSVN Server 2.5 or earlier and you have Subversion authentication enabled on your server. For further details please consider the KB63 article.

Download VisualSVN Server 2.7 at the download page.