Installing TortoiseSVN

System requirements

TortoiseSVN runs on Windows 2000 SP2, Windows XP or higher. Windows 98, Windows ME and Windows NT4 are no longer supported since TortoiseSVN 1.2.0, but you can still download the older versions if you really need them.

If you encounter any problems during or after installing TortoiseSVN please refer to Appendix A, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) first.

Installation

TortoiseSVN comes with an easy to use installer. Double click on the installer file and follow the instructions. The installer will take care of the rest.

Important

You need Administrator privileges to install TortoiseSVN.

Language Packs

The TortoiseSVN user interface has been translated into many different languages, so you may be able to download a language pack to suit your needs. You can find the language packs on our translation status page . And if there is no language pack available yet, why not join the team and submit your own translation ;-)

Each language pack is packaged as a .exe installer. Just run the install program and follow the instructions. Next time you restart, the translation will be available.

Spellchecker

TortoiseSVN includes a spell checker which allows you to check your commit log messages. This is especially useful if the project language is not your native language. The spell checker uses the same dictionary files as OpenOffice and Mozilla .

The installer automatically adds the US and UK English dictionaries. If you want other languages, the easiest option is simply to install one of TortoiseSVN's language packs. This will install the appropriate dictionary files as well as the TortoiseSVN local user interface. Next time you restart, the dictionary will be available too.

Or you can install the dictionaries yourself. If you have OpenOffice or Mozilla installed, you can copy those dictionaries, which are located in the installation folders for those applications. Otherwise, you need to download the required dictionary files from http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Dictionaries

Once you have got the dictionary files, you probably need to rename them so that the filenames only have the locale chars in it. Example:

  • en_US.aff

  • en_US.dic

Then just copy them to the bin sub-folder of the TortoiseSVN installation folder. Normally this will be C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin. If you don't want to litter the bin sub-folder, you can instead place your spell checker files in C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\Languages. If that folder isn't there, you have to create it first. The next time you start TortoiseSVN, the spell checker will be available.

If you install multiple dictionaries, TortoiseSVN uses these rules to select which one to use.

  1. Check the tsvn:projectlanguage setting. Refer to the section called “Project Settings” for information about setting project properties.

  2. If no project language is set, or that language is not installed, try the language corresponding to the Windows locale.

  3. If the exact Windows locale doesn't work, try the “Base” language, eg. de_CH (Swiss-German) falls back to de_DE (German).

  4. If none of the above works, then the default language is English, which is included with the standard installation.