I am trying to set up an svn on my windows computer to keep track of versions.
i've downloaded tortoise svn, but am confused how to install.
i can't find a good simple answer for my problem, all the manuals are fairly complicated, so please don't tell me RTFM.
my problem is i set up a repository at C:\svn (using create repository here).
Then I right click a folder containing my files and say import. I choose the repository "file://C:\svn" and then it gives me an errors saying "unable to open repository"
What should I do?
Right-click where you want your working copy, and select "SVN checkout...". Select file:///C:/svn/trunk as your repository URL and checkout. Unless you've added files to your repo, you'll get an empty working copy. Any files you create in the working copy, you can add using the Tortoise context menu.
Import is typically used when you have a complete file tree you want to copy into your repository. Select the root of the file tree, and use "TortoiseSVN -> Import" from the context menu, and select file:///C:/svn/trunk as the target of the import. This will copy the file tree into the repository, so if you then checkout from file:///C:/svn/trunk, you'll get your file tree inside your working copy.
Hope that clears things up a little.
(The book Version Control with Subversion is otherwise an excellent resource, both for new users and for reference.)
From your project directory (the one you want to move into your repository), right-click and select TortoiseSVN -> Import...
I think the problem is that you are only using 2 slashes for your file: URL. Try file:///C:/svn.
Also, from memory you can't import directly into a directory that already exists, so you might need to import into file:///C:/svn/trunk.
This won't make the current directory into a working copy. You'll need to go ahead and check out the project into another directory so that the connections between your project and SVN can be created.
Good luck.
you need to checkout first, then add your files to the new working copy.
Also, try this for a url: file:///C:/svn