The best Mac SVN client
Seb just asked for Mac SVN client recommendations on Twitter and I realized that I hadn't blogged about Syncro SVN. It's the only SVN client I've found that is actually usable on OS X.
The The best Mac SVN client article by Aral Balkan, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England License.
PC users are spoiled with the excellent TortoiseSVN but the few clients that exist on the Mac, well, how should I put it, umm, suck. Badly. Except for Syncro.
Check out Syncro SVN. Personally, though, I still prefer the command line! 
The The best Mac SVN client article by Aral Balkan, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 UK: England License.
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Ken Simpson
Gabriela Portilla
Clark Wilkins
Bob
Erik Hansen
Patrick Pietens
There is a TortoiseSVN-a-like client for OSX named SCPlugin. It works great if you don’t have to access secured repositories.
May 15th, 2007 at 12:40 pmgabes
I use the SubClipse within Eclipse, and it works perfectly..
May 15th, 2007 at 12:52 pmRichard Leggett
Another vote for SCPlugin for Finder integration, but will definitely give this Syncro a try thanks Aral!
May 15th, 2007 at 1:16 pmamnesic
I like also SvnX
May 15th, 2007 at 2:54 pmhttp://www.lachoseinteractive.net/en/community/subversion/svnx/features/?sid=7970311e7bf0ff2e530321a329e2e415
Josh Buhler
I was also going to mention svnX - works pretty good, and it’s open-source, so the price is just right as well.
May 15th, 2007 at 2:58 pmMiles
We’re looking into this very issue right now, as we’re trying to get the design team into the practice of using version control.
Syncro SVN looks impressive, but I think it may be too much for our non-technical designers. We’re trying to go from a “what’s wrong with saving to my desktop” mentality here… We’re only looking at binary files (PSD, FLA, Illustrator, etc) so we’re not too worried about code merging functionality. The simpler the better: Lock it, Change it, Check it in.
SCPlugin for Finder looks good, but not being able to connect to a secure repository would be a deal breaker.
We’ve been looking at ZigVersion (http://zigzig.com/content/view/15/29/) which looks pretty simple.
We’ve also been looking into the feasibility of bridging Adobe Version Cue to run off the Subversion server. If anyone has prior experience in this, let me know
May 15th, 2007 at 4:29 pmErki Esken
I’ve been using the free Foundation version of SmartSVN http://www.syntevo.com/smartsvn/ Works pretty well. And of course command line svn binaries from http://www.codingmonkeys.de/mbo/ come in handy from time to time.
May 15th, 2007 at 6:25 pmzwetan
Last time I needed to use SVN on Mac, I looked and tested a lot of tools tryingto find something close to TortoiseSVN, and found nothing…
ended using the command-line, duh I would have loved to know about SCPlugin at this time.
@Miles:
when I had to make designer on Mac communicate with programmers on Windows/Mac/whatever and both using SVN, I ended using autoversioning
http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.2/svn.webdav.autoversioning.html
DAV svn
SVNPath /path/to/repository
SVNAutoversioning on
that way you just give network folder path to the designers and they use it as any other filesystem, but in the background the server keep all the versioning.
May 15th, 2007 at 10:48 pmJosh Tynjala
You can connect to a secure respository with SCPlugin. You must checkout the project with the command line version once. After that, SCPlugin will be able to update and commit without problems.
May 16th, 2007 at 12:24 amJosh Tynjala
Sorry Aral, I forgot to close my em tag. Please fix!
May 16th, 2007 at 12:25 amadampasz
Yeesh! I took one look at that awful screenshot on the Syncro SVN homepage, and it scared me away. I think I will try SCPlugin first.
May 16th, 2007 at 1:41 amBjorn
close em tag..
Thanks for the heads up.
I’ve been using SmartSVN which is pretty lame in comparison.
Thanks
May 16th, 2007 at 4:45 amRob
Can’t beat the command line
May 16th, 2007 at 9:32 amPatrick Pietens
@Josh:
I read about it but unfortunately it didn’t work for me!
May 16th, 2007 at 9:58 amkeith
I think its worth taking the effort to learn the command line interface, once you get up and running its perfect and not only that so many tutorials/screencasts use it in their demos if you arent set up to use it, it becomes a pain….
In a perfect world All mac users would become1 with their terminal…:-)
May 16th, 2007 at 1:53 pmkeith
Does anyone know a way to create a keyboard shortcut to bring up a terminal window in osx?
May 16th, 2007 at 3:13 pmrichard
@keith: you can use Quicksilver to invoke commands in terminal/iterm.
1.enable the terminal/iterm plugins in Quicksilver preferences.
2. invoke Quicksilver, then type a ‘.’ (depending on your config) to enter text mode
3. type the command, press tab
4. choose the “Run a text command in Terminal/iTerm” option and press enter
a new window or tab of Terminal/iTerm should appear
May 16th, 2007 at 7:53 pmDallas Freeman
I wish there was something like TortoiseSVN available for Macs =(
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:15 pmDallas Freeman
SCPlugin is on its way to being as good as TortoiseSVN but still a long way to go, any recommendations on places to read about command line
i’ve hardly used it, and when i did, i was on a linux box
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:28 amsanjay suri
Hi,
I’m having problems uploading to the svn repo large files. these are .sql files and anything > 80KB makes the svn process hang (either radrail hangs or command line tool hangs). Is this a known/obvious problem i’m running into? Any help appreciated.
svn –version
May 31st, 2007 at 11:21 amsvn, version 1.4.3 (r23084)
compiled Apr 23 2007, 20:20:07
Guido
If you are looking for the latest (1.4.4) Mac OS server and command line client binaries (Universals), check here: http://downloads.open.collab.net/binaries.html
July 2nd, 2007 at 6:08 pmaral
Hi Guido,
Thanks for the link
July 2nd, 2007 at 8:32 pmAral
christian
Maybe little bit off topic but talking about SVN and Flash:
July 11th, 2007 at 5:39 pmWas anybody here already confronted with the problem that Flash CS3 doesn’t accept a document class if the FLA and the class in an folder under SVN-control? When I move the FLA and the class somewhere else everything works fine. Only occures under OS X …
JasonM
Of course you can make the terminal a bit more “sexy” by using the Dashboard terminal widget…
I’m rolling SVN out to IA’s and Designers at the moment and I’m spec’ing SCPlugin as the day to day tool. Subclipse as the “admin” tool.
Of course the initial checkout has to be done with a Terminal script… so Automator is the first choice to shield our poor non-terminal people.
July 18th, 2007 at 10:34 amJonathan Boutelle
SynchroSVN crashes on my system, begging for more memory while downloading from my repo. Configuring it according to the error message on crash doesn’t seem to solve the problem. Not what I’m expecting for non-free software. Next!
July 22nd, 2007 at 6:23 amPatrick
SyncroSVN is the only MAC client I can find that has a usable GUI for Branch/Tag/Merge. Very similar to tortoisesvn. It is a little slower though. They recently dropped their price.
If you only need to modify and check-in files, ZigVersion is a good free client to check out.
August 7th, 2007 at 4:38 pmLukas
I just had to evaluate and configure a svn client on OS X. First I had a shot at svnX but found it too confusing to explain to non-technical project members. I then switched to SCPlugin and am happy with it, despite the fact that not the complete svn functionnality is available at that moment.
We connect to a secure repository using ssh-keys. There is no need for a command-line checkout.
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:14 pm-> Set up ssh keys without password protection (open Terminal, type ssh-keygen)
-> We store those ssh-keys in a password protected drive (optional) (use DiskUtility to create a password protected disk image, store the keys on that drive and use sshKeychain to make the keys available)
-> Check out the repository with SCPlugin: check and your url of type: svn ssh://server-username@your.server.url/your/repositoriy/path
Jack Repenning
SCPlugin just released a new version, 0.7, that makes life a lot easier. I think Lukas is using the new version, while all earlier posts are still using the old.
The new version can handle the login info during check-out, eliminating the awkward requirement for a command-line tool for the first checkout. Login info is cached very securely, in the OS X Keychain, so you only need to enter them once (or when they change, of course).
Access via svn ssh:// still requires something like the ssh-keys solution provided by Lukas, or ssh-askpass if you like that approach better.
The new version also includes a real installer, more-reliable badging (not yet perfect, but much better - sigh!), and every command in the context menu works.
August 28th, 2007 at 10:26 pmSimon Robbie
How do these compare with RapidSVN. I’ve found it usable, albeit slow for some updating.
December 7th, 2007 at 8:50 pmJeff Yamada
So I haven’t used OSX in sometime and ended up having to use one for today ( not that I mind, the thing is beautiful ). However, I was shocked to find that SVN wasn’t already installed by default in terminal! Whats up with that? Sigh, now I have to hunt down an OSX install.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:24 amJeff Yamada
Doh, looks like I just had to set my .profile and restart Terminal…Yay
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:28 amBryan Roman
@christian
I encountered the same problem using version controlled class packages in CS3 (using smartSVN). After some investigating I found that my open FLA would not compile after I performed a very large commit - I think it was a few hundred files. The error was that the “document class could not be found” As long as I kept the commits small there was not a problem. So strange, not sure if it is an SVN or Adobe bug..
February 25th, 2008 at 4:30 pmBrajeshwar
After trying out various options, I decided that the “SVN Plugin + Eclipse” is the way to go for. However, I’m trying out “Syncro SVN Client” with the feeling that keeping the SVN Management separate might help.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:57 amBen
@Christian && @Bryan Roman
The bug is related to the amount of files in a single directory.
More details at http://agit8.turbulent.ca/bwp/2008/05/01/flash-cs3-bug-on-mac-os-x-and-subversion-svn-files/
Pretty major!
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 amNavin Samuel
There is a new SVN client out thereanow called Versions (http://www.versionsapp.com/). Looks promising but I was not impressed by the UI. For me, SmartSVN works like a charm! The free version is just fantastice and should suffice for many! If I do end up buying a client, SmartSVN it will be.
June 4th, 2008 at 6:18 pmSzymon Kiedyk
SVN is really excellent in conjunction with http://www.springloops.com. Probably one of the best applications out there. Use any client you want and have Spring Loops help with the administration and deployment, just brilliant.
June 16th, 2008 at 2:53 amBjorn
try out: http://www.versionsapp.com/ of all the clients I’ve tried, I like this one best!
July 18th, 2008 at 1:58 pmSCPlugin Needs Lock/Unlock Function!
SCPlugin really is not acceptable until it supports locking and unlocking files!!!
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:09 amMatt Johnson
Cornerstone is a new SVN client that is an impressive tool among the other alternatives. I suggest you at least check it out, it is both simple and intuitive yet powerful. You may not notice some of the capabilities till you start using it because the software only bothers you about details when it’s necessary.
http://www.zennaware.com/cornerstone/
I switched from using SyncroSVN to Cornerstone, and I refuse to go back. Using SVN on my Mac is a much more enjoyable experience now.
July 30th, 2008 at 5:50 amMelinda
Hello,
Could someone please tell me how to setup this url in SmartSVN?
http://www.prestashop.com/publicsvn/trunk/
and send screenshots?
I have other projects setup and they work but not this one. I downloaded Versions app and the svn works on that one but not SmartSVN.
Thank you!
October 8th, 2008 at 10:51 pmJames
Versions.app just came out of beta. To me, Versions beats the other good for-pay SVN client (Snycro) on three fronts:
1) better price / license plan,
2) better interface (the UI actually Mac OS X and is usable and intuitive),
3) the app literally loads in no time, compared to Syncro. Its faaaaaast.
I don’t know if Versions can handle “cleanup” on a working copy, but quite mysteriously I havent needed to run cleanup since ive been using Versions.
Admittedly Versions interface is wildly different than any other svn client i’ve used, and the paradigm for their “commit process” took a little getting used to, but overall it is easy and a pleasure to work with once you play with it for a day.
I have no experience with Cornerstone and I tried Zig but didn’t like it as much.
http://versionsapp.com
November 19th, 2008 at 10:02 pmJeremy
Another vote for Versions (http://versionsapp.com). They’ve just come out of beta with their first stable release and I couldn’t be more pleased. It’s intuitive and, while it doesn’t have finder integration, I find I have no use for it with their really intuitive layout. I also use Coda (http://www.panic.com/coda/) as my main editor - for three reasons - awesome syntax highlighting (very fast to render on my old G5), killer code hinting (for php, at least) and last, but not least FTP/WebDAV/SVN integration. The SVN portion could be a bit better fleshed out, but it works for quick updates to individual files where I don’t need to check in a bunch at a time.
I hadn’t worked with SVN before I got my Mac - yes, there was a time before Mac - the dark ages of Windows and the enlightenment of Ubuntu lead me to the nirvana of Mac - so I’m a bit spoiled on my choices having only made these two. But honestly - I couldn’t be happier. The hard-core linux geek in me says you can’t beat the command line, the lethargic Windows user says a file browser is best, but the true Mac lover will recognize the utility of a well planned and cleanly executed GUI any day and that’s what I think I’ve found in Versions and Coda.
@James - strangely, I’ve not had to run an SVN cleanup with Versions, either; all of my PC cohorts are constantly complaining about that.
November 21st, 2008 at 2:37 amTanja Pislar
I also vote for Versions. It was the first gui svn app that i tried for mac and i need not look elsewhere. It is a pleasure to use, it’s intuitive and it looks good
November 21st, 2008 at 2:28 pmNuno Luciano
I just try Versions (Pico + Sofa team)
It looks great. But didn’t tested enough
to compare with competitors.
http://www.versionsapp.com/
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:40 pmgyo
Just go for SCPlugin. You’ll never need another svn client
http://scplugin.tigris.org/
Enjoy
March 28th, 2009 at 10:53 amMIchael Pardo
SCPlugin is horrible. It errors out and crashes all the time. I removed it. Versions app works great so far.
May 11th, 2009 at 2:29 pmDavid Colwell
I also like Versions. Coda has an “okay” svn gui integrated into it…but Versions is much nicer.
For Versions I recommend you use the documentation to get yourself started ….some parts work a little differently than some users might expect. Once you get going with it and get used to where things are (like how to checkout an existing project to a local repository requiring you to make a bookmark of the remote source control location first), you’ll find it’s very easy and friendly to use!
-David
May 14th, 2009 at 1:44 am