Running svnserve as a windows service: long filename problem

posted

I was following this blog post to run subversion on my laptop. It basically suggest running this command to register svnserve as windows service:

C:\>sc create svn_repos binpath= "C:\DevSupport\Subversion\bin\svnserve.exe --service --root D:\Repository" displayname= "Subversion Repository" depend= Tcpip

The issue is, how does one put in long directory name like 'Program Files' or 'Subversion Repository'?

I have found a work around, which is to use environment variables:

sc create svn_repos binpath= "%ProgramFiles%\Subversion\bin\svnserve.exe --service --root %SubversionRepository" displayname= "Subversion Repository" depend= Tcpip

some extra explanation for the command parameters

sc : service controller
create : create new service
svn_repos : id
binpath : svnserve
displayname : display name
depend : dependency

Creating the environment variables

From here on all you have to do is to create an environment variable pointing to the correct path. In windows vista, that's:

Control Panel > System > Advanced > Advanced > Environment Variables

ignore this

  1. says:
    2008-11-25 17:18:00 -0500

    You need to enclose the long file name in escaped-double-quotes.

  2. ronaldwidha says:
    2008-11-26 05:57:00 -0500

    Hi Grant,

    That was what I first thought as well. Upon closer inspection svn_repos binpath argument expects the value to be enclosed in double quotes like so: "C:\DevSupport\Subversion\bin\svnserve.exe --service --root D:\Repository"

    So when you have a long file name, you'd probably ended up with ""C:\some long file name\svnserve.exe" --service ...".

    Which what you might guess, won't work.

  3. Cornel says:
    2009-11-10 04:44:00 -0500

    There's no need to use environment variables. Inside binpath quotes, you must use " instead of ". Example: SC create some_service start= auto binpath= ""C:Program FilesSomeServicePathSomeService.exe" -option" DisplayName= "Some Service" For you, it's going to be sc create svn_repos binpath= ""C:Program FilesSubversionbinsvnserve.exe" --service --root "D:Subversion Repository"" displayname= "Subversion Repository" depend= Tcpip It's been a while since this post was created, but hope it'll help :)