If you’ve read anything else on this blog, you’ve probably noticed that there has been an almost unhealthy obsession with Adobe and more specifically their Source Control Server formerly called Version Cue (but dropped as of CS5). I’ve been remiss about adding the last chapter of my Adobe Saga. Since the topic is probably a little stale I’m going to keep it brief and just give a very brief outline of what I did. If anyone has questions about details such as configurations used for Subversion or backup scripts please post a question in the comments and I will fill in the missing pieces. Auto Props settings are at the bottom

1. Install Visual SVN Server. I used the free version, but we may upgrade at some point. If you’re comfortable setting up SVN on Linux I have no doubt it would work, but VisualSVN was/is so easy I chose that.
   1. We added some settings to the server about checkin/checkout and requires lock but it’s probably not necessary.
2. Have all users checkin open files/projects into Version Cue.
3. Check out all projects using Adobe Bridge CS3 (even if you use Version Cue CS4). It’s the only one that checks the files out in a logical file structure.
4. Use a Subversion Client with appropriate Auto Props settings. We used Cornerstone on the Mac and TortoiseSVN on the PC. Cornerstone was used for adding the files.
   1. By Auto Props I mean they need to be enabled and you need to set all binary (non text) files to “requires lock” in your subversion config file. A sample of our Auto Props settings from the subversion config file are posted at the bottom of the post. The reason for this is that binary files such as images can not be edited simultaneously and therefore should require a lock so no one overwrites another person’s work. Additionally “requires lock” needs to be set before adding the files to subversion or you will have to manually change it for each file afterwards which could take forever.
5. Create a repository and create users that can access it on the server.
6. Add the files using Cornerstone. Several projects can be added simultaneously.
7. Start using SVN instead of Version Cue

That’s it (I hope). Obviously be sure to back up your SVN Server. There are several methods to do so. We use one of the svn hotcopy backup scripts, snapshotting, and we also sync to offsite cloud storage.

If you get stuck, drop me a comment.

Our Auto Props Config: