The central website for all versions of Subversion is here: http://subversion.tigris.org/project_packages.html
But keep reading---you probably want to follow one of the links later on this page.

OSX

OSX Command-Line

Matt uses the command-line Subversion tools on OSX, which came as pre-built and easy-to-install binaries:
http://metissian.com/projects/macosx/subversion

This particular distribution is only up to SVN version 1.3. For easy-to-install OSX command-line version 1.4, try one of these:

You might find a nice link from here too: http://subversion.tigris.org/project_packages.html

The command-line tools are installed into /usr/local/bin, which isn't in people's path by default when they open an OSX terminal window. After installing Subversion, open a Terminal window and type "svn help". If it prints help, you're fine.

Otherwise, type "/usr/local/bin/svn help". If this works, you need to add /usr/local/bin to your path. Pasting this Unix gibberish into a Terminal window and then opening a new Terminal window should do the trick:

echo "set path = ( $path /usr/local/bin)" >> ~/.tcshrc
echo "set path = ( $path /usr/local/bin)" >> ~/.cshrc
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin" >> ~/.profile
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin" >> ~/.bashrc

If none of the above work, then either you didn't really install Subversion or you accidentally installed it somewhere weird. Try again and/or get help.

OSX Finder Plugin

mzed has been using the sc finder plugin successfully. You can download it at http://scplugin.tigris.org/. It adds badges to the folder and file icons in the finder that show the status of items in a working copy. It also makes available a subset of SVN commands from the contextual (right-click) menu. As of 8 August 2007, it still doesn't move or rename files, but it is a handy tool.

OSX Graphical Clients

There are a few OSX graphical clients for Subversion. All of them require that you first install the command-line client, so do that first.

The one we're currently recommending at CNMAT is SVNX:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/development_tools/svnx.html

Here are some others you might want to look into:

There are also Subversion plug-ins for BBEdit and other text editors. Here's what mzed says about the BBEdit plugin:/p>

"Basically it works seamlessly, but you have to install a preference panel called sshlogin". You get the preference panel from http://www.bebits.com/app/746 and then you have to check things out using the command-line tools, but then there's a Subversion menu (with an icon that looks like a big stylized letter "S" tilted 45 degrees to the left) in BBEdit that lets you do everything you need to do directly from BBEdit."

MZed edit (30.X.06): sshlogin doesn't work with Tiger. Once you've checked out a working copy using the command line tools, configure BBEdit to use that working copy from the "Source Control" pane of the Preferences.

Adrian is currently also using SVN support from within BBEdit. It seems to be good for anything involving individual files (even files such as Max patches that BBEdit can't open), and it has a nice graphical way to show you the differences between two text files side by side, but it's terrible at things involving directories. So, for example, BBEdit isn't good at changing the name of something that's already been checked into the repository ("svn rename"), or for adding new directories to the repository ("svn mkdir").

Windows

Windows Explorer

I installed Subversion (from http://subversion.tigris.org/project_packages.html),
plus the GUI front-end TortiseSVN (http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org).

It didn't work because it couldn't find ssh. Here are my notes on how I fixed this (on CNMAT's Windows machine):

command-line ssh is here:
C:\Program Files\SSH Communications Security\SSH Secure
Shell\ssh2.exe

So you must add that directory to your path:
Start Menu

right-click "My Computer"
Choose "properties"
"Advanced" tab
"Environment Variables" button
In "System variables", scroll down to "Path"
Select and press "Edit"

Then you have to tell Subversion that "ssh" is named
"ssh2":
cd C:\Documents and Settings\Matt Wright\Application
Data\Subversion

Change config so that "[tunnels]" isn't commented out, and
then underneath that, so it says
ssh = ssh2

Windows with CYGWIN

If you prefer a more Unix-like user interface, you can easily run Subversion from within cygwin.

Linux

Any respectable Linux distribution already comes with (command-line) Subversion installed.