SVN and PyFileServer

Long time no post. No recent news on PyFileServer, except that I've submitted the DDJ SOC article.

Today I got an email expressing interest in PyFileServer (a good day!!) and wondering if it could be used to host an SVN repository. So I checked out the SVN internals and how its being accessed:
+ as a http(s):// url - with the server as Apache mod_svn_dav, using a partial/customized version of WebDAV and DeltaV
+ as a svn(+tunnel):// url - with the server as svnserve, using its own custom protocol
+ as a file:// url - using the ra_local library to access the repository directly.

PyFileServer was designed to allow custom resource layers (and lock/property libraries) to be implemented. For PyFileServer to host a SVN repository, the simplest solution might be:
[svn repos-file] <---- ra_local ------> [PyFileServer] <------ webdav ------> [svn client]

(1) I'll write a SVN abstraction layer that accesses a local repository (via ra_local). This allows PyFileServer users to browse and retrieve SVN repos contents, via webDAV clients.

(2) I'll extend the PyFileServer application to include DeltaV extensions to WebDAV. This allows the actual versioning portion (checkin/checkout), via webDAV clients.

(3) Here's this bit that provides difficulty - svn client and mod_svn_dav uses a partial/customized version of WebDAV/DeltaV to communicate, and its not documented in detail:
+ http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.0/apcs02.html
+ http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/subversion/libsvn_ra_dav/protocol
So while you'll be able to access the SVN repository via webDAV clients, you would not be able to do "svn co URL" where URL is PyFileServer hosted, unless PyFileServer reimplement or bind over mod_svn_dav in some way to speak their language.

I would be doing (1) and (2) on the way, as my studies and other projects allow. However, (3) might not be done for quite a while, so if you were wanting to use this for a production/workplace setup, you probably will not wait for it.