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GitLab vs SVN (Subversion): What are the differences?

GitLab and SVN (Subversion) are both widely used version control systems. Let's explore the key differences between them:

  1. Distributed vs. Centralized: GitLab is a distributed version control system, which means that each developer has a complete copy of the entire repository. This allows for offline work and easy branching and merging. On the other hand, SVN is a centralized version control system, which relies on a central server that stores the repository. Developers need to be connected to the server to access and update files.

  2. Branching and Merging: GitLab provides advanced branching and merging capabilities. Developers can create branches and work on them independently, making it easy to experiment and work on multiple features simultaneously. GitLab also offers powerful merging tools that allow for easy integration of changes from different branches. SVN, on the other hand, has a more limited branching and merging model. It follows a trunk-branch approach, where only one branch is typically used for development, and merging can be more challenging and error-prone.

  3. Performance and Scalability: GitLab is known for its performance and scalability. It is designed to handle large codebases and repositories with millions of files and commits. GitLab's distributed nature also allows for faster operations as most tasks can be done locally without relying on a central server. SVN, on the other hand, may struggle with large repositories and can be slower when dealing with a high number of files and commits.

  4. Integration and Tooling: GitLab offers a wide range of integrations and tooling support. It has a robust ecosystem of plugins and extensions, allowing seamless integration with other development tools and services. GitLab also provides an extensive API that can be used to automate tasks and build custom integrations. SVN, on the other hand, has fewer integration options and may require additional configuration to work with other tools.

  5. Community and Collaboration: GitLab has a thriving community and is known for its strong emphasis on collaboration. It provides built-in features for code reviews, issue tracking, and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD). GitLab also supports collaboration workflows with features like merge requests and code discussions. SVN, on the other hand, lacks some of these collaboration features and may require additional tools or plugins to achieve similar functionality.

  6. Hosting and Cost: GitLab offers a cloud-based SaaS version, as well as a self-hosted version that can be deployed on-premises or on a private server. The self-hosted version of GitLab is free, open-source, and provides full control over the infrastructure. SVN, on the other hand, is typically self-hosted and requires server infrastructure to set up and maintain. This can result in additional costs for hardware, maintenance, and administration.

In summary, GitLab is a modern, distributed version control system designed for collaborative software development, offering features like branching, merging, and code review. SVN, or Subversion, is a centralized version control system, which is older and lacks some of the distributed features of GitLab, making it less flexible for modern development workflows.

Decisions about GitLab and SVN (Subversion)
Weverton Timoteo

Do you review your Pull/Merge Request before assigning Reviewers?

If you work in a team opening a Pull Request (or Merge Request) looks appropriate. However, have you ever thought about opening a Pull/Merge Request when working by yourself? Here's a checklist of things you can review in your own:

  • Pick the correct target branch
  • Make Drafts explicit
  • Name things properly
  • Ask help for tools
  • Remove the noise
  • Fetch necessary data
  • Understand Mergeability
  • Pass the message
  • Add screenshots
  • Be found in the future
  • Comment inline in your changes

Read the blog post for more detailed explanation for each item :D

What else do you review before asking for code review?

See more
Weverton Timoteo

Using an inclusive language is crucial for fostering a diverse culture. Git has changed the naming conventions to be more language-inclusive, and so you should change. Our development tools, like GitHub and GitLab, already supports the change.

SourceLevel deals very nicely with repositories that changed the master branch to a more appropriate word. Besides, you can use the grep linter the look for exclusive terms contained in the source code.

As the inclusive language gap may happen in other aspects of our lives, have you already thought about them?

See more
Weverton Timoteo

One of the magic tricks git performs is the ability to rewrite log history. You can do it in many ways, but git rebase -i is the one I most use. With this command, It’s possible to switch commits order, remove a commit, squash two or more commits, or edit, for instance.

It’s particularly useful to run it before opening a pull request. It allows developers to “clean up” the mess and organize commits before submitting to review. If you follow the practice 3 and 4, then the list of commits should look very similar to a task list. It should reveal the rationale you had, telling the story of how you end up with that final code.

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Kamaleshwar BN
Senior Software Engineer at Pulley · | 8 upvotes · 649K views

Out of most of the VCS solutions out there, we found Gitlab was the most feature complete with a free community edition. Their DevSecops offering is also a very robust solution. Gitlab CI/CD was quite easy to setup and the direct integration with your VCS + CI/CD is also a bonus. Out of the box integration with major cloud providers, alerting through instant messages etc. are all extremely convenient. We push our CI/CD updates to MS Teams.

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Gitlab as A LOT of features that GitHub and Azure DevOps are missing. Even if both GH and Azure are backed by Microsoft, GitLab being open source has a faster upgrade rate and the hosted by gitlab.com solution seems more appealing than anything else! Quick win: the UI is way better and the Pipeline is way easier to setup on GitLab!

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Nazar Atamaniuk
Shared insights
on
DeployPlaceDeployPlaceGitHubGitHubGitLabGitLab

At DeployPlace we use self-hosted GitLab, we have chosen GitLab as most of us are familiar with it. We are happy with all features GitLab provides, I can’t imagine our life without integrated GitLab CI. Another important feature for us is integrated code review tool, we use it every day, we use merge requests, code reviews, branching. To be honest, most of us have GitHub accounts as well, we like to contribute in open source, and we want to be a part of the tech community, but lack of solutions from GitHub in the area of CI doesn’t let us chose it for our projects.

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Pros of GitLab
Pros of SVN (Subversion)
  • 507
    Self hosted
  • 429
    Free
  • 339
    Has community edition
  • 242
    Easy setup
  • 240
    Familiar interface
  • 137
    Includes many features, including ci
  • 113
    Nice UI
  • 84
    Good integration with gitlabci
  • 57
    Simple setup
  • 34
    Free private repository
  • 34
    Has an official mobile app
  • 31
    Continuous Integration
  • 22
    Open source, great ui (like github)
  • 18
    Slack Integration
  • 14
    Full CI flow
  • 11
    Free and unlimited private git repos
  • 10
    User, group, and project access management is simple
  • 9
    All in one (Git, CI, Agile..)
  • 8
    Built-in CI
  • 8
    Intuitive UI
  • 6
    Full DevOps suite with Git
  • 6
    Both public and private Repositories
  • 5
    Integrated Docker Registry
  • 5
    Build/pipeline definition alongside code
  • 5
    So easy to use
  • 5
    CI
  • 5
    It's powerful source code management tool
  • 4
    Unlimited free repos & collaborators
  • 4
    Security and Stable
  • 4
    On-premises
  • 4
    It's fully integrated
  • 4
    Excellent
  • 4
    Issue system
  • 4
    Mattermost Chat client
  • 4
    Dockerized
  • 3
    Great for team collaboration
  • 3
    Free private repos
  • 3
    Because is the best remote host for git repositories
  • 3
    Low maintenance cost due omnibus-deployment
  • 3
    Not Microsoft Owned
  • 3
    Built-in Docker Registry
  • 3
    Opensource
  • 3
    I like the its runners and executors feature
  • 2
    Multilingual interface
  • 2
    Powerful software planning and maintaining tools
  • 2
    Review Apps feature
  • 2
    Kubernetes integration with GitLab CI
  • 2
    One-click install through DigitalOcean
  • 2
    Powerful Continuous Integration System
  • 2
    Native CI
  • 2
    HipChat intergration
  • 2
    Many private repo
  • 2
    Kubernetes Integration
  • 2
    Published IP list for whitelisting (gl-infra#434)
  • 2
    Wounderful
  • 2
    Beautiful
  • 2
    Groups of groups
  • 2
    The dashboard with deployed environments
  • 2
    It includes everything I need, all packaged with docker
  • 1
    Supports Radius/Ldap & Browser Code Edits
  • 20
    Easy to use
  • 13
    Simple code versioning
  • 5
    User/Access Management
  • 3
    Complicated code versionioning by Subversion
  • 2
    Free

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

Cons of GitLab
Cons of SVN (Subversion)
  • 28
    Slow ui performance
  • 8
    Introduce breaking bugs every release
  • 6
    Insecure (no published IP list for whitelisting)
  • 2
    Built-in Docker Registry
  • 1
    Review Apps feature
  • 7
    Branching and tagging use tons of disk space

Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

What is GitLab?

GitLab offers git repository management, code reviews, issue tracking, activity feeds and wikis. Enterprises install GitLab on-premise and connect it with LDAP and Active Directory servers for secure authentication and authorization. A single GitLab server can handle more than 25,000 users but it is also possible to create a high availability setup with multiple active servers.

What is SVN (Subversion)?

Subversion exists to be universally recognized and adopted as an open-source, centralized version control system characterized by its reliability as a safe haven for valuable data; the simplicity of its model and usage; and its ability to support the needs of a wide variety of users and projects, from individuals to large-scale enterprise operations.

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What companies use GitLab?
What companies use SVN (Subversion)?
See which teams inside your own company are using GitLab or SVN (Subversion).
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What tools integrate with GitLab?
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What are some alternatives to GitLab and SVN (Subversion)?
GitHub
GitHub is the best place to share code with friends, co-workers, classmates, and complete strangers. Over three million people use GitHub to build amazing things together.
Bitbucket
Bitbucket gives teams one place to plan projects, collaborate on code, test and deploy, all with free private Git repositories. Teams choose Bitbucket because it has a superior Jira integration, built-in CI/CD, & is free for up to 5 users.
Jenkins
In a nutshell Jenkins CI is the leading open-source continuous integration server. Built with Java, it provides over 300 plugins to support building and testing virtually any project.
Gogs
The goal of this project is to make the easiest, fastest and most painless way to set up a self-hosted Git service. With Go, this can be done in independent binary distribution across ALL platforms that Go supports, including Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.
Git
Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency.
See all alternatives