Installing Subversion server on Ubuntu...

I need a source control in my local network. No need for fancy http or https. Custom svn protocol should be sufficient.

1) Install Subversion

    $ sudo apt-get install subversion

2) Create directory for my repository

    $ mkdir /home/dirn/svn
    $ cd /home/dirn/svn
    $ mkdir my-repo

3) Create repository by using svnadmin command

    $ sudo svnadmin create /home/dirn/svn/my-repo

4) Create a new group called subversion

    $ sudo groupadd subversion

5) Add your username and www-data into the group

    $ sudo usermod -a -G subversion www-data
    $ sudo usermod -a -G subversion user_name

6) Set permission

    $ cd /home/dirn/svn
    $ sudo chown -R www-data:subversion my-repo
    $ sudo chmod -R g+rws my-repo

7) Edit svnserve.conf file

    $ nano /home/dirn/svn/my-repo/conf/svnserve.conf

8) Uncomment the following line and save the file

    # [general]
    # password-db = passwd

9) Edit passwd file

    $ nano /home/dirn/svn/my-repo/conf/passwd

10) Add your svn username and password and save the file

    username = password

11) Run svnserve service

    $ svnserve -d --foreground -r /home/dirn/svn

12) To access the project repository, run the following command

    $ svn co svn://hostname/my-repo my-repo --username user_name

Note:
Tested on Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit and Linux Mint 10 64-bit.

Subversion: the simplest way, cheapest and reliable source control solution on Windows platform...

It's challenging to work in an IT department for a non IT company when there's no proper software development process. "Best practices" would be listed as a low priority item in the list.

The first thing that I would look for before I start coding is a source control. Without it, we're in a risk of loosing the code or spending more time to undo changes that we did which had caused the application to broke.

Since it's a non IT company, requesting budget for software purchase might not take you to the smooth path journey. So, with only 3 options I have in hand and mind which is:

1) Visual SourceSafe 6.0d - unreliable and an obsolete product
2) Perforce - love it, unfortunately the license fee is damn expensive
3) Subversion - it's free but never use it, learning curve needed

Since Subversion is the only option left for me, did some googling and I was overwhelmed with the information. There are so many tools can be use to work with Subversion. To make my life easier, I've listed the best free 4 (at least for me) tools.

VisualSVN Server Standard Edition
Server side tool which is available freely for commercial use. Check out the difference between Standard and Enterprise editions here.

TortoiseSVN
A windows shell extension for Subversion. It is not integrated to any specific IDE and can be use with whatever development tools you like.

AnkhSVN
A Subversion Source Control Provider for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, 2008 and 2010.

SVNMonitor
A tool to monitor changes made to the repository.

Update (27/07/2010)
I've tried SVNMonitor and it's a great tool for monitoring changes made to the repository. Unfortunately all the svn action will be disable if you monitor the source via URL.