Now that Subversion, the new version control system destined to replace CVS, has a stable 1.0 release, it's time to start using it. Mac OS X users can install it with Fink, using the "svn"-related packages (svn and svn-client, or svn-ssl and svn-client-ssl). If Fink complains about the "system-java14-dev" package being missing, head on over to the Apple Developer Connection Site, register (free) or log in, and download and install the Java 1.4.2 Developer Package (50.6 MB). You may need to do this even if you believe you installed the Java SDK before: apparently a recent software update uninstalled the SDK for some reason.
After the Fink install, the quick-start instructions worked for me using a local repository in my home directory. It appears Enhanced Carbon Emacs already has an SVN mode. Neat! Now if only BBEdit supported it like it does CVS...
The Subversion O'Reilly book is available for pre-order, and is due out this month. View or download the latest draft.
You can also use the pre-compiled binary with fink by typing:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install svn-client-ssl (e.g.)
or use the Binary menu in FinkCommander. Like this you don't need to compile all dependencies just to get a client. But you only get version 1.0.0, since there is no binary version available for svn 1.0.6 yet. A newer binary version in Fink should be available in the next weeks.