I found the below article quite helpful.
http://techgurulive.com/2009/01/13/how-to-install-and-configure-subversion-on-ubuntu/
To summarize:
1. Install Subversion
sudo apt-get install subversion libapache2-svn
svnadmin create /path/to/repos/project
2. Importing files to repository
svn import /path/to/import/directory file:///path/to/repos/project
here, the nano screen appeared.
cntrl x and pressed continue.
3. svn co file:///path/to/repos/project
4. create user names for multiple access.
4.1 Go to the repository you created, and that folder
edit /conf/svnserv.conf file
Uncomment the line below to use the default password file.
password-db = passwd
NOTE: In RED HAT # vim /etc/subversion/svn-authz
4.2 Next edit the passwd file.
5. Now, to access Subversion via the svn:// custom protocol, either from the same machine or a different machine, you can run svnserver using svnserve command. The syntax is as follows:
$ svnserve -d --foreground -r /path/to/repos
# -d -- daemon mode
# --foreground -- run in foreground (useful for debugging)
# -r -- root of directory to serve
eg:
svnserve -d --foreground -r /home/byorn/myrepos/
Once you run this command, Subversion starts listening on default port (3690). To access the project repository, you must run the following command from a terminal prompt:
6. To Check Out.
svn co svn://hostname/project project --username user_name
note: if checking out from your own machine...just give like
svn co svn://hostname project --username username would be sufficient.
