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Docker vs SVN (Subversion): What are the differences?
Introduction
In the world of software development and version control, Docker and SVN (Subversion) are two widely used tools that serve different purposes. Understanding the key differences between Docker and SVN can help developers choose the right tool for a particular project.
Architecture: Docker is a containerization platform that encapsulates applications and their dependencies within containers, enabling portability across different environments. On the other hand, SVN is a centralized version control system that manages and tracks changes to files and directories, allowing multiple users to collaborate on a codebase.
Use Case: Docker is primarily used for packaging, shipping, and running applications in a consistent environment, making it ideal for deploying microservices and containerized applications. In contrast, SVN is used for managing the source code of a project, tracking changes, and enabling collaboration among developers by providing a centralized repository for code storage.
Workflow: Docker follows a container-based workflow where developers build, ship, and run applications within containers, ensuring consistency and isolation. SVN, on the other hand, follows a file-based workflow where developers commit changes to the central repository, update their local working copies, and resolve conflicts while collaborating on a codebase.
Flexibility: Docker offers flexibility in terms of environment isolation and package management, allowing developers to build lightweight, portable containers for their applications. SVN provides flexibility in managing different versions of files and directories, allowing users to revert to previous revisions, branch code, and merge changes seamlessly.
Scalability: Docker is designed for scalability and can handle a large number of containers running concurrently, making it suitable for orchestrating containerized applications in a distributed environment. SVN is scalable in terms of handling multiple users and large codebases, but it may face performance issues when dealing with a high volume of concurrent operations.
Community Support: Docker has a large and active community that contributes to the development of tools, plugins, and resources, making it easy for users to find solutions to their problems and stay updated with the latest features. SVN also has a supportive community, but its popularity has been overshadowed by newer version control systems like Git in recent years.
In Summary, understanding the key differences between Docker and SVN in terms of architecture, use case, workflow, flexibility, scalability, and community support can help developers make informed decisions when choosing the right tool for their projects.
SVN is much simpler than git for the simple stuff (checking in files and updating them when everyone's online), and much more complex than git for the complicated stuff (branching and merging). Or put another way, git's learning curve is steep up front, and then increases moderately as you do weird things; SVN's learning curve is very shallow up front and then increases rapidly.
If you're storing large files, if you're not branching, if you're not storing source code, and if your team is happy with SVN and the workflow you have, I'd say you should stay on SVN.
If you're writing source code with a relatively modern development practice (developers doing local builds and tests, pre-commit code reviews, preferably automated testing, preferably some amount of open-source code), you should move to git for two reasons: first, this style of working inherently requires frequent branching and merging, and second, your ability to interact with outside projects is easier if you're all comfortable with git instead of snapshotting the outside project into SVN.
lxd/lxc and Docker aren't congruent so this comparison needs a more detailed look; but in short I can say: the lxd-integrated administration of storage including zfs with its snapshot capabilities as well as the system container (multi-process) approach of lxc vs. the limited single-process container approach of Docker is the main reason I chose lxd over Docker.
Pros of Docker
- Rapid integration and build up823
- Isolation692
- Open source521
- Testability and reproducibility505
- Lightweight460
- Standardization218
- Scalable185
- Upgrading / downgrading / application versions106
- Security88
- Private paas environments85
- Portability34
- Limit resource usage26
- Game changer17
- I love the way docker has changed virtualization16
- Fast14
- Concurrency12
- Docker's Compose tools8
- Easy setup6
- Fast and Portable6
- Because its fun5
- Makes shipping to production very simple4
- Highly useful3
- It's dope3
- Package the environment with the application2
- Super2
- Open source and highly configurable2
- Simplicity, isolation, resource effective2
- MacOS support FAKE2
- Its cool2
- Does a nice job hogging memory2
- Docker hub for the FTW2
- HIgh Throughput2
- Very easy to setup integrate and build2
- Asdfd0
Pros of SVN (Subversion)
- Easy to use20
- Simple code versioning13
- User/Access Management5
- Complicated code versionioning by Subversion3
- Free2
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Cons of Docker
- New versions == broken features8
- Unreliable networking6
- Documentation not always in sync6
- Moves quickly4
- Not Secure3
Cons of SVN (Subversion)
- Branching and tagging use tons of disk space7