Along with Subversion's own datatypes, you will see many references to datatypes that begin with apr_—symbols from the Apache Portable Runtime (APR) library. APR is Apache's portability library, originally carved out of its server code as an attempt to separate the OS-specific bits from the OS-independent portions of the code. The result was a library that provides a generic API for performing operations that differ mildly—or wildly—from OS to OS. While the Apache HTTP Server was obviously the first user of the APR library, the Subversion developers immediately recognized the value of using APR as well. This means that there are practically no OS-specific code portions in Subversion itself. Also, it means that the Subversion client compiles and runs anywhere that the server does. Currently this list includes all flavors of Unix, Win32, BeOS, OS/2, and Mac OS X.

In addition to providing consistent implementations of system calls that differ across operating systems, ^[55] APR gives Subversion immediate access to many custom datatypes, such as dynamic arrays and hash tables. Subversion uses these types extensively throughout the codebase. But perhaps the most pervasive APR datatype, found in nearly every Subversion API prototype, is the apr_pool_t—the APR memory pool. Subversion uses pools internally for all its memory allocation needs (unless an external library requires a different memory management schema for data passed through its API), ^[56] and while a person coding against the Subversion APIs is not required to do the same, they are required to provide pools to the API functions that need them. This means that users of the Subversion API must also link against APR, must call apr_initialize() to initialize the APR subsystem, and then must create and manage pools for use with Subversion API calls, typically by using svn_pool_create(), svn_pool_clear(), and svn_pool_destroy().

With remote version control operation as the whole point of Subversion's existence, it makes sense that some attention has been paid to internationalization (i18n) support. After all, while “remote” might mean “across the office”, it could just as well mean “across the globe.” To facilitate this, all of Subversion's public interfaces that accept path arguments expect those paths to be canonicalized, and encoded in UTF-8. This means, for example, that any new client binary that drives the libsvn_client interface needs to first convert paths from the locale-specific encoding to UTF-8 before passing those paths to the Subversion libraries, and then re-convert any resultant output paths from Subversion back into the locale's encoding before using those paths for non-Subversion purposes. Fortunately, Subversion provides a suite of functions (see subversion/include/svn_utf.h) that can be used by any program to do these conversions.

Also, Subversion APIs require all URL parameters to be properly URI-encoded. So, instead of passing file:///home/username/My File.txt as the URL of a file named My File.txt, you need to pass file:///home/username/My%20File.txt. Again, Subversion supplies helper functions that your application can use—svn_path_uri_encode() and svn_path_uri_decode(), for URI encoding and decoding, respectively.

If you are interested in using the Subversion libraries in conjunction with something other than a C program—say a Python or Perl script—Subversion has some support for this via the Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator (SWIG). The SWIG bindings for Subversion are located in subversion/bindings/swig and whilst still maturing, they are in a usable state. These bindings allow you to call Subversion API functions indirectly, using wrappers that translate the datatypes native to your scripting language into the datatypes needed by Subversion's C libraries.

There is an obvious benefit to accessing the Subversion APIs via a language binding—simplicity. Generally speaking, languages such as Python and Perl are much more flexible and easy to use than C or C++. The sort of high-level datatypes and context-driven type checking provided by these languages are often better at handling information that comes from users. As you know, humans are proficient at botching up input to a program, and scripting languages tend to handle that misinformation more gracefully. Of course, often that flexibility comes at the cost of performance. That is why using a tightly-optimized, C-based interface and library suite, combined with a powerful, flexible binding language, is so appealing.

Unfortunately, Subversion's language bindings tend to lack the level of developer attention given to the core Subversion modules. However, there have been significant efforts towards creating functional bindings for Python, Perl, and Ruby. To some extent, the work done preparing the SWIG interface files for these languages is reusable in efforts to generate bindings for other languages supported by SWIG (which include versions of C#, Guile, Java, MzScheme, OCaml, PHP, and Tcl, among others). However, some extra programming is required to compensate for complex APIs that SWIG needs some help translating between languages. For more information on SWIG itself, see the project's website at http://www.swig.org/.

Example 8.1, “Using the Repository Layer” contains a code segment (written in C) that illustrates some of the concepts we've been discussing. It uses both the repository and filesystem interfaces (as can be determined by the prefixes svn_repos_ and svn_fs_ of the function names, respectively) to create a new revision in which a directory is added. You can see the use of an APR pool, which is passed around for memory allocation purposes. Also, the code reveals a somewhat obscure fact about Subversion error handling—all Subversion errors must be explicitly handled to avoid memory leakage (and in some cases, application failure).

/* Convert a Subversion error into a simple boolean error code.
 *
 * NOTE:  Subversion errors must be consumed because they are allocated
 *        from the global pool, else memory leaking occurs.
 */
#define INT_ERR(expr)                           \
  do {                                          \
    svn_error_t *__temperr = (expr);            \
    if (__temperr)                              \
      {                                         \
        svn_error_clear(__temperr);             \
        return 1;                               \
      }                                         \
    return 0;                                   \
  } while (0)

/* Create a new directory at the path NEW_DIRECTORY in the Subversion
 * repository located at REPOS_PATH.  Perform all memory allocation in
 * POOL.  This function will create a new revision for the addition of
 * NEW_DIRECTORY.  Return zero if the operation completes
 * successfully, non-zero otherwise.
 */
static int
make_new_directory(const char *repos_path,
                   const char *new_directory,
                   apr_pool_t *pool)
{
  svn_error_t *err;
  svn_repos_t *repos;
  svn_fs_t *fs;
  svn_revnum_t youngest_rev;
  svn_fs_txn_t *txn;
  svn_fs_root_t *txn_root;
  const char *conflict_str;

  /* Open the repository located at REPOS_PATH. 
   */
  INT_ERR(svn_repos_open(&repos, repos_path, pool));

  /* Get a pointer to the filesystem object that is stored in REPOS. 
   */
  fs = svn_repos_fs(repos);

  /* Ask the filesystem to tell us the youngest revision that
   * currently exists. 
   */
  INT_ERR(svn_fs_youngest_rev(&youngest_rev, fs, pool));

  /* Begin a new transaction that is based on YOUNGEST_REV.  We are
   * less likely to have our later commit rejected as conflicting if we
   * always try to make our changes against a copy of the latest snapshot
   * of the filesystem tree. 
   */
  INT_ERR(svn_fs_begin_txn(&txn, fs, youngest_rev, pool));

  /* Now that we have started a new Subversion transaction, get a root
   * object that represents that transaction. 
   */
  INT_ERR(svn_fs_txn_root(&txn_root, txn, pool));
  
  /* Create our new directory under the transaction root, at the path
   * NEW_DIRECTORY. 
   */
  INT_ERR(svn_fs_make_dir(txn_root, new_directory, pool));

  /* Commit the transaction, creating a new revision of the filesystem
   * which includes our added directory path.
   */
  err = svn_repos_fs_commit_txn(&conflict_str, repos, 
                                &youngest_rev, txn, pool);
  if (! err)
    {
      /* No error?  Excellent!  Print a brief report of our success.
       */
      printf("Directory '%s' was successfully added as new revision "
             "'%ld'.\n", new_directory, youngest_rev);
    }
  else if (err->apr_err == SVN_ERR_FS_CONFLICT)
    {
      /* Uh-oh.  Our commit failed as the result of a conflict
       * (someone else seems to have made changes to the same area 
       * of the filesystem that we tried to modify).  Print an error
       * message.
       */
      printf("A conflict occurred at path '%s' while attempting "
             "to add directory '%s' to the repository at '%s'.\n", 
             conflict_str, new_directory, repos_path);
    }
  else
    {
      /* Some other error has occurred.  Print an error message.
       */
      printf("An error occurred while attempting to add directory '%s' "
             "to the repository at '%s'.\n", 
             new_directory, repos_path);
    }

  INT_ERR(err);
} 

Note that in Example 8.1, “Using the Repository Layer”, the code could just as easily have committed the transaction using svn_fs_commit_txn(). But the filesystem API knows nothing about the repository library's hook mechanism. If you want your Subversion repository to automatically perform some set of non-Subversion tasks every time you commit a transaction (like, for example, sending an email that describes all the changes made in that transaction to your developer mailing list), you need to use the libsvn_repos-wrapped version of that function was adds the hook triggering functionality—in this case, svn_repos_fs_commit_txn(). (For more information regarding Subversion's repository hooks, see the section called “Implementing Repository Hooks”.)

Now let's switch languages. Example 8.2, “Using the Repository Layer with Python” is a sample program that uses Subversion's SWIG Python bindings to recursively crawl the youngest repository revision, and print the various paths reached during the crawl.

#!/usr/bin/python

"""Crawl a repository, printing versioned object path names."""

import sys
import os.path
import svn.fs, svn.core, svn.repos

def crawl_filesystem_dir(root, directory):
    """Recursively crawl DIRECTORY under ROOT in the filesystem, and return
    a list of all the paths at or below DIRECTORY."""

    # Print the name of this path.
    print directory + "/"
    
    # Get the directory entries for DIRECTORY.
    entries = svn.fs.svn_fs_dir_entries(root, directory)

    # Loop over the entries.
    names = entries.keys()
    for name in names:
        # Calculate the entry's full path.
        full_path = directory + '/' + name

        # If the entry is a directory, recurse.  The recursion will return
        # a list with the entry and all its children, which we will add to
        # our running list of paths.
        if svn.fs.svn_fs_is_dir(root, full_path):
            crawl_filesystem_dir(root, full_path)
        else:
            # Else it's a file, so print its path here.
            print full_path

def crawl_youngest(repos_path):
    """Open the repository at REPOS_PATH, and recursively crawl its
    youngest revision."""
    
    # Open the repository at REPOS_PATH, and get a reference to its
    # versioning filesystem.
    repos_obj = svn.repos.svn_repos_open(repos_path)
    fs_obj = svn.repos.svn_repos_fs(repos_obj)

    # Query the current youngest revision.
    youngest_rev = svn.fs.svn_fs_youngest_rev(fs_obj)
    
    # Open a root object representing the youngest (HEAD) revision.
    root_obj = svn.fs.svn_fs_revision_root(fs_obj, youngest_rev)

    # Do the recursive crawl.
    crawl_filesystem_dir(root_obj, "")
    
if __name__ == "__main__":
    # Check for sane usage.
    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
        sys.stderr.write("Usage: %s REPOS_PATH\n"
                         % (os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])))
        sys.exit(1)

    # Canonicalize the repository path.
    repos_path = svn.core.svn_path_canonicalize(sys.argv[1])

    # Do the real work.
    crawl_youngest(repos_path)

This same program in C would need to deal with APR's memory pool system. But Python handles memory usage automatically, and Subversion's Python bindings adhere to that convention. In C, you'd be working with custom datatypes (such as those provided by the APR library) for representing the hash of entries and the list of paths, but Python has hashes (called “dictionaries”) and lists as built-in datatypes, and provides a rich collection of functions for operating on those types. So SWIG (with the help of some customizations in Subversion's language bindings layer) takes care of mapping those custom datatypes into the native datatypes of the target language. This provides a more intuitive interface for users of that language.

The Subversion Python bindings can be used for working copy operations, too. In the previous section of this chapter, we mentioned the libsvn_client interface, and how it exists for the sole purpose of simplifying the process of writing a Subversion client. Example 8.3, “A Python Status Crawler” is a brief example of how that library can be accessed via the SWIG Python bindings to recreate a scaled-down version of the svn status command.

#!/usr/bin/env python

"""Crawl a working copy directory, printing status information."""

import sys
import os.path
import getopt
import svn.core, svn.client, svn.wc

def generate_status_code(status):
    """Translate a status value into a single-character status code,
    using the same logic as the Subversion command-line client."""
    code_map = { svn.wc.svn_wc_status_none        : ' ',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_normal      : ' ',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_added       : 'A',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_missing     : '!',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_incomplete  : '!',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_deleted     : 'D',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_replaced    : 'R',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_modified    : 'M',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_merged      : 'G',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_conflicted  : 'C',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_obstructed  : '~',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_ignored     : 'I',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_external    : 'X',
                 svn.wc.svn_wc_status_unversioned : '?',
               }
    return code_map.get(status, '?')

def do_status(wc_path, verbose):
    # Calculate the length of the input working copy path.
    wc_path_len = len(wc_path)

    # Build a client context baton.
    ctx = svn.client.svn_client_ctx_t()

    def _status_callback(path, status, root_path_len=wc_path_len):
        """A callback function for svn_client_status."""

        # Print the path, minus the bit that overlaps with the root of
        # the status crawl
        text_status = generate_status_code(status.text_status)
        prop_status = generate_status_code(status.prop_status)
        print '%s%s  %s' % (text_status, prop_status, path[wc_path_len + 1:])
        
    # Do the status crawl, using _status_callback() as our callback function.
    svn.client.svn_client_status(wc_path, None, _status_callback,
                                 1, verbose, 0, 0, ctx)

def usage_and_exit(errorcode):
    """Print usage message, and exit with ERRORCODE."""
    stream = errorcode and sys.stderr or sys.stdout
    stream.write("""Usage: %s OPTIONS WC-PATH
Options:
  --help, -h    : Show this usage message
  --verbose, -v : Show all statuses, even uninteresting ones
""" % (os.path.basename(sys.argv[0])))
    sys.exit(errorcode)
    
if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Parse command-line options.
    try:
        opts, args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:], "hv", ["help", "verbose"])
    except getopt.GetoptError:
        usage_and_exit(1)
    verbose = 0
    for opt, arg in opts:
        if opt in ("-h", "--help"):
            usage_and_exit(0)
        if opt in ("-v", "--verbose"):
            verbose = 1
    if len(args) != 1:
        usage_and_exit(2)
            
    # Canonicalize the repository path.
    wc_path = svn.core.svn_path_canonicalize(args[0])

    # Do the real work.
    do_status(wc_path, verbose)

As was the case in Example 8.2, “Using the Repository Layer with Python”, this program is pool-free and uses, for the most part, normal Python data types. The call to svn_client_ctx_t() is deceiving because the public Subversion API has no such function—this just happens to be a case where SWIG's automatic language generation bleeds through a little bit (the function is a sort of factory function for Python's version of the corresponding complex C structure). Also note that the path passed to this program (like the last one) gets run through svn_path_canonicalize(), because to not do so runs the risk of triggering the underlying Subversion C library's assertions about such things, which translate into rather immediate and unceremonious program abortion.