[OpenAFS] berkeley-db, svn and afs

[Russ Allbery]

Hendrik Hoeth <hendrik.hoeth@cern.ch> writes:

> I'd like to use subversion, but it uses berkeley-db for the repository.
> Since berkeley-db uses mmap for locking (right?), in the svn
> documentation they write

>   "As opposed to CVS, subversion is not based on RCS, but rather on the
>    Berkeley Database. Make sure not to install a repository on remote
>    file systems, like NFS, AFS, or Windows SMB. The database requires
>    POSIX locking mechanisms, which these file systems do not support."

> How serious is this problem? Is it possible to have a repository on afs
> if only one client at a time uses it (e.g. because there is only one
> machine where svnserve is called)?

For the record, the problem with Berkeley DB in AFS, as far as I
understand it, is that it uses byte-range locking.  So if there's only one
client, it seems likely to me that it would be fine, although I haven't
personally tested it.

Using the fsfs backend is, of course, an even better alternative.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@stanford.edu)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>