VisualSVN Server 5.4 Release Notes
This version brings significantly revamped rendering of Markdown documents in the Web Interface, new backup policies for more time- and storage-efficient backups, and other enhancements.
Highlights of this release
Improvements in Markdown rendering
The rendering of Markdown documents in the Repository Web Interface now fully supports the widely-adopted CommonMark specification of Markdown syntax. Additionally, the following improvements have been made to Markdown rendering in the Web UI:
- Added support for anchor links (also known as section links). You can now link directly to specific section headings in a Markdown file.
- Added support for the blockquote-based GFM alerts syntax. You can use the alert syntax to emphasize important information. Currently five types of alerts are supported: Note, Tip, Important, Warning and Caution, which will now be rendered with distinctive icons and colors in the Web UI.
- Added support for the GFM task list syntax. The Web UI will now render a task list as a list of items with read-only checkboxes, which can be useful for to-do lists.
-
Added support for syntax highlighting in fenced code blocks within
Markdown documents. To enable syntax highlighting for a fenced code block,
specify the language name after the triple backticks/tildes (e.g.,
```cpp) that mark the start of the code block. - Added support for HTML tags within Markdown documents. This allows you to include parts with raw HTML markup inside Markdown documents.
Advanced backup creation policies
VisualSVN Server 5.4 offers new policy settings for scheduled repository backup jobs, when you use the mixed full/incremental backup scheme. In particular, it now is possible to conditionally make full backups based on the quantity of accumulated incremental backups. This allows you to conditionally skip a full backup for a repository when this repository has not had any commit activity recently.
The new policy settings also allow you to greatly reduce the use of storage space and time spent on making backups, by having longer chains of incremental backups that can now span more than one week. This is especially beneficial when you back up extremely large repositories.
Learn more about advanced backup creation policies
More enhancements
A few other notable improvements in this version are listed below:
- IP-based restrictions for Basic Windows Authentication. In the Windows authentication mode, it is now possible to selectively allow Basic authentication only to specific IP addresses, by setting up IP-based restrictions. Instead of enabling or disabling the Basic Windows Authentication method for everyone, you can now enable it only for specific users that require it, while forcing all other users to use the more secure Integrated Windows Authentication.
-
New
Test-SvnRepositoryBackupcmdlet for verifying repository backups. -
New
Get-SvnRepositoryBackupcmdlet for listing all backups created by a particular backup job and for displaying information about individual backup files.
Compatibility considerations
VisualSVN Server 5.4 is fully compatible and interoperable with Subversion clients based on Subversion 1.14.x as well as with older clients.
There are the following compatibility changes in VisualSVN Server 5.4:
- Remote Server Administration of VisualSVN Server 5.1.x and older versions is no longer supported.
Upgrading to the new version
Upgrading to VisualSVN Server 5.4 is recommended for all users. Please read the KB233: Upgrading to VisualSVN Server 5.4 article before upgrading.
The upgrade is free for all customers who have an active maintenance subscription for the Enterprise or Essential licenses. The upgrade is also free for all customers who use VisualSVN Server under the Community license.