If you have not created any Subversion repositories yet, you can create one with svnadmin:

  $ svnadmin create ~/my-repository

Simply copy /usr/local/lib/apache2/mod_dav_svn.so to your Apache modules directory:

  $ cp /usr/local/lib/apache2/mod_dav_svn.so ~/apache/modules

And add to httpd.conf:

  LoadModule dav_svn_module modules/mod_dav_svn.so

If you plan to use fine-grained permissions, load mod_authz_svn.so as well:

  LoadModule authz_svn_module modules/mod_authz_svn.so

HTTP access to your repositories is defined using a <Location> section in your httpd.conf.

  <Location /myproject>
    DAV svn
    SVNPath /home/myself/myrepos/myproject
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "My project"
    AuthUserFile /home/myself/private/myproject.pw
    Order deny,allow
    <LimitExcept GET PROPFIND OPTIONS REPORT>
      Require valid-user
    </LimitExcept>
  </Location>

This entry would grant read-only access to everyone and write access to every user AuthUserFile. You can use the htpasswd utility to create or update this file, as described here.

The next entry grants read/write access to users in the AuthUserFile, and no access to anyone else.

<Location /myproject>
  DAV svn
  SVNPath /home/myself/myrepos/myproject
  AuthType Basic
  AuthName "My project"
  AuthUserFile /home/myself/private/myproject.pw
  Order deny,allow
  Require valid-user
</Location>

The previous examples all define access on a per-repository basis. It is also possible to grant access from specific users to specific areas of the repository, using fine-grained permissions.

Using either a remote Subversion client or the standard svn command from your shell, you can generate your working copy of the repository with the checkout command. If you are accessing public data over a read-only account, you can use a standard http URL:

  $ svn co http://your-domain/myproject/

If you are accessing private data or using a read/write account, make sure to use an https URL:

  $ svn co https://your-domain/myproject/

The contents of public repositories are also accessible from a web browser. Keep in mind that search engines will try to index any public data, so you may want to use a robots.txt file.

You can allow or deny specific users read/write privileges on specific items within a repository using AuthzSVNAccessFile. If you use this directive, make sure the mod_authz_svn module is loaded.

  <Location /repos>
    DAV svn
    SVNPath /home/myself/myrepos
    
    # Access Control via the authz module.
    AuthzSVNAccessFile /home/myself/private/myrepos.acl
    # Anonymous access is allowed. Prompt as needed.
    Satisfy Any
    Require valid-user
    AuthType Basic
    AuthName "My subversion repositories"
    AuthUserFile /home/myself/private/myrepos.pw
  </Location>

The file specified in AuthzSVNAccessFile is a plain text file which defines fine-grained access lists. Note that all path names specified are relative to the SVNPath.

  #
  # Allow anonymous read access to everything by default.
  #
  [/]
  * = r
  
  #
  # Grant alice and bob write access to all of /myproject1/.
  #
  [/myproject]
  * = r
  alice = rw
  bob = rw
  
  #
  # Grant carol and charlie write access to only /myproject/foo
  #
  [/myproject/foo]
  carol = rw
  charlie = rw