Question

How do I create a branch in SVN?

Answer 1

Branching in Subversion is facilitated by a very very light and efficient copying facility.

Branching and tagging are effectively the same. Just copy a whole folder in the repository to somewhere else in the repository using the svn copy command.

Basically this means that it is by convention what copying a folder means – whether it be a backup, tag, branch or whatever. Depending upon how you want to think about things (normally depending upon which SCM tool you have used in the past) you need to set up a folder structure within your repository to support your style.

Common styles are to have a bunch of folders at the top of your repository called tags, branches, trunk, etc. – that allows you to copy your whole trunk (or sub-sets) into the tags and/or branches folders. If you have more than one project you might want to replicate this kind of structure under each project:

It can take a while to get used to the concept – but it works – just make sure you (and your team) are clear on the conventions that you are going to use. It is also a good idea to have a good naming convention – something that tells you why the branch/tag was made and whether it is still appropriate – consider ways of archiving branches that are obsolete.