<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <title>How to Read This Book</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="styles.css" /> <meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.79.1" /> <style type="text/css"> body { background-image: url('images/draft.png'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: top left; /* The following properties make the watermark "fixed" on the page. */ /* I think that's just a bit too distracting for the reader... */ /* background-attachment: fixed; */ /* background-position: center center; */ }</style> <link rel="home" href="index.html" title="Version Control with Subversion [DRAFT]" /> <link rel="up" href="svn.preface.html" title="Preface" /> <link rel="prev" href="svn.preface.audience.html" title="Audience" /> <link rel="next" href="svn.preface.organization.html" title="Organization of This Book" /> </head> <body> <div xmlns="" id="vcws-version-notice"> <p>This text is a work in progress—highly subject to change—and may not accurately describe any released version of the Apache™ Subversion® software. Bookmarking or otherwise referring others to this page is probably not such a smart idea. Please visit <a href="http://www.svnbook.com/">http://www.svnbook.com/</a> for stable versions of this book.</p> </div> <div class="navheader"> <table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"> <tr> <th colspan="3" align="center">How to Read This Book</th> </tr> <tr> <td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="svn.preface.audience.html">Prev</a> </td> <th width="60%" align="center">Preface</th> <td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="svn.preface.organization.html">Next</a></td> </tr> </table> <hr /> </div> <div class="sect1"> <div class="titlepage"> <div> <div> <h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="svn.preface.howread"></a>How to Read This Book</h2> </div> </div> </div> <p>Technical books always face a certain dilemma: whether to cater to <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">top-down</span>”</span> or to <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">bottom-up</span>”</span> learners. A top-down learner prefers to read or skim documentation, getting a large overview of how the system works; only then does she actually start using the software. A bottom-up learner is a <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">learn by doing</span>”</span> person—someone who just wants to dive into the software and figure it out as she goes, referring to book sections when necessary. Most books tend to be written for one type of person or the other, and this book is undoubtedly biased toward top-down learners. (And if you're actually reading this section, you're probably already a top-down learner yourself!) However, if you're a bottom-up person, don't despair. While the book may be laid out as a broad survey of Subversion topics, the content of each section tends to be heavy with specific examples that you can try-by-doing. For the impatient folks who just want to get going, you can jump right to <a class="xref" href="svn.intro.html" title="Appendix A. Subversion Quick-Start Guide">Appendix A, <em>Subversion Quick-Start Guide</em></a>.</p> <p>Regardless of your learning style, this book aims to be useful to people of widely different backgrounds—from those with no previous experience in version control to experienced system administrators. Depending on your own background, certain chapters may be more or less important to you. The following can be considered a <span class="quote">“<span class="quote">recommended reading list</span>”</span> for various types of readers:</p> <div class="variablelist"> <dl class="variablelist"> <dt> <span class="term">Experienced system administrators</span> </dt> <dd> <p>The assumption here is that you've probably used version control before and are dying to get a Subversion server up and running ASAP. <a class="xref" href="svn.reposadmin.html" title="Chapter 5. Repository Administration">Chapter 5, <em>Repository Administration</em></a> and <a class="xref" href="svn.serverconfig.html" title="Chapter 6. Server Configuration">Chapter 6, <em>Server Configuration</em></a> will show you how to create your first repository and make it available over the network. After that's done, <a class="xref" href="svn.tour.html" title="Chapter 2. Basic Usage">Chapter 2, <em>Basic Usage</em></a> and <a class="xref" href="svn.forcvs.html" title="Appendix B. Subversion for CVS Users">Appendix B, <em>Subversion for CVS Users</em></a> are the fastest routes to learning the Subversion client.</p> </dd> <dt> <span class="term">New users</span> </dt> <dd> <p>Your administrator has probably set up Subversion already, and you need to learn how to use the client. If you've never used a version control system, then <a class="xref" href="svn.basic.html" title="Chapter 1. Fundamental Concepts">Chapter 1, <em>Fundamental Concepts</em></a> is a vital introduction to the ideas behind version control. <a class="xref" href="svn.tour.html" title="Chapter 2. Basic Usage">Chapter 2, <em>Basic Usage</em></a> is a guided tour of the Subversion client.</p> </dd> <dt> <span class="term">Advanced users</span> </dt> <dd> <p>Whether you're a user or administrator, eventually your project will grow larger. You're going to want to learn how to do more advanced things with Subversion, such as how to use Subversion's property support (<a class="xref" href="svn.advanced.html" title="Chapter 3. Advanced Topics">Chapter 3, <em>Advanced Topics</em></a>), how to use branches and perform merges (<a class="xref" href="svn.branchmerge.html" title="Chapter 4. Branching and Merging">Chapter 4, <em>Branching and Merging</em></a>), how to configure runtime options (<a class="xref" href="svn.customization.html" title="Chapter 7. Customizing Your Subversion Experience">Chapter 7, <em>Customizing Your Subversion Experience</em></a>), and other things. These chapters aren't critical at first, but be sure to read them once you're comfortable with the basics.</p> </dd> <dt> <span class="term">Developers</span> </dt> <dd> <p>Presumably, you're already familiar with Subversion, and now want to either extend it or build new software on top of its many APIs. <a class="xref" href="svn.developer.html" title="Chapter 8. Embedding Subversion">Chapter 8, <em>Embedding Subversion</em></a> is just for you.</p> </dd> </dl> </div> <p>The book ends with reference material—<a class="xref" href="svn.ref.html" title="Part II. Subversion Command Reference">Part II, “Subversion Command Reference”</a> is a reference guide for all Subversion commands, and the appendixes cover a number of useful topics. These are the chapters you're most likely to come back to after you've finished the book.</p> </div> <div class="navfooter"> <hr /> <table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"> <tr> <td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="svn.preface.audience.html">Prev</a> </td> <td width="20%" align="center"> <a accesskey="u" href="svn.preface.html">Up</a> </td> <td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="svn.preface.organization.html">Next</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Audience </td> <td width="20%" align="center"> <a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a> </td> <td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Organization of This Book</td> </tr> </table> </div> <div xmlns="" id="vcws-footer"> <hr /> <img src="images/cc-by.png" style="float: right;" /> <p>You are reading <em>Version Control with Subversion</em> (for Subversion 1.8), by Ben Collins-Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick, and C. Michael Pilato.</p> <p>This work is licensed under the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">Creative Commons Attribution License v2.0</a>.</p> <p>To submit comments, corrections, or other contributions to the text, please visit <a href="http://www.svnbook.com/">http://www.svnbook.com/</a>.</p> </div> </body> </html>