ATTENTION: You are viewing a page formatted for mobile devices; to view the full web page, click HERE.

Other Software > Developer's Corner

Opinions wanted: Best SVN client for use on a Mac

(1/1)

Ath:
Hey guys and gals,

I'd better ask your opinion on this matter:
Background info
We're a development shop, that uses mostly Windows to develop software (client- and server-side), written in Java, C#, Cobol, Progress, C++, html5/Javascript, Delphi and Modula (most projects only use a subset of these ;)) and deploy that on Windows, HP-UX and Redhat Linux.
We use several SVN repositories for source storage and versioning.
For some of these applications we also develop apps for iOS, that need to be developed on a Mac, and for Andoid, that can nicely be developed on Windows.
On Windows we use the 'native' IDE's for the development languages named above, that all come with integrated/plug-in SVN support, like Eclipse, NetBeans and Visual Studio, or use TortoiseSVN from Windows Explorer for update/commit/merge/diff.

The dilemma
The (small) department that develops using the Mac now asked my department (Software Engineering) for a (single) license of SmartSVN to be able to update/commit directly from the Mac to the SVN repositories. Knowing nearly nothing about development on Mac I did some research to find that this tool requires a recurring licensing cost that we'd like to avoid, I suggested them to try and use Eclipse with the Subversive plug-in, as is our default choice on Windows/Eclipse.

Your advice requested
Who has experience with development on Mac, using SVN as a source repository, and can give some advice in this matter?
I have 2 goals here: 1) We'd prefer to have an open source/free solution, but if there is some edge in using SmartSVN (the team is pushing in that direction, because 'it was investigated and found to be good'), I'd be very interested to hear from you. And 2) We'd like to use one of the already known/familiar tools so switching developers will be as smooth/easy as possible.

Tools/solutions I've found so far:

* Eclipse with Subversive plug-in (open source): http://eclipse.org
* NetBeans, has SVN support built-in (free): http://netbeans.org
* svnX finder extension (open source): http://code.google.com/p/svnx/
* SmartSVN (non-free, $69/year): http://www.smartsvn.com/
* CornerStone (non-free, $59, upgrade $29 on major version): http://www.zennaware.com/cornerstone/index.php
* SCPlugin finder extension (open source, but hasn't been updated since 2010): http://scplugin.tigris.org/
TIA!

phitsc:
I have no experience with any of the tools on your list. Nevertheless, I can give an opinion on one of them:

Cornerstone by zennaware is being co-developed by a former teammate of mine (he's one of the founders and owners of zennaware). I can tell you that he's a very talented and dedicated programmer. I have no doubt that Cornerstone must be an excellent piece of software and well worth its price.

mwb1100:
this tool requires a recurring licensing cost that we'd like to avoid
-Ath (May 09, 2013, 04:36 AM)
--- End quote ---

I believe that you are mistaken that a recurring license fee is required. From the purchase page of SmartSVN (I wasn't aware that WANdisco had acquired this software):

Your purchase includes:

   - A permanent license-key for the current version of SmartSVN Professional
   - One year of free updates (independent of version numbers)
-https://store.wandisco.com/smartsvn-professional
--- End quote ---

So, you need to pay annually to keep getting upgrades, but if you're content with the software and don't need new features, then there's no requirement to pay the annual upgrade fee.

Renegade:
...Knowing nearly nothing about development on Mac I did some research to find that this tool requires a recurring licensing cost that we'd like to avoid...
-Ath (May 09, 2013, 04:36 AM)
--- End quote ---

Isn't that half the Apple experience? Always overpaying again and again? Aren't you kind of robbing them of the authentic Apple experience?

(Sorry - couldn't resist! :D)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

Go to full version