Limit user access to repositories on Assembla or another SVN hosting service

Question

I've been looking into the Assembla SVN hosting solution after reading some fairly positive reviews on it. However one of my requirements is to limit user access to certain repositories I have setup. The reason is we have a contractor that I want to check in their code to a particular assembla repository however I don't want to grant them access to other code repositories I have setup.

The only restrictions I could see in this regard was setting users to Edit, View or All modes which doesn't quite seem to fit what I'm looking for. Tried to read the Assembla FAQ but could not find any info on this.

We are on the starter package which gives 1 space and 3 users.

So is this possible using the Assembla service and if not, are there any free or just as cheap options out there that would do this?

Thanks.

UPDATE: I decided to a look into this a bit further for Assembla and it looks like it does not offer this fine grain control as David suggestion. I found this information from their support forum at http://forum.assembla.com/forums/2-Subversion-and-Git/topics/3567-Team-permissions-to-different-repositories-in-the-same-space.

I guess the question now is does anyone know of another svn hosting solution out there that would offer this user level control?

Answer 1

Assembla gives you possibility to add multiple repositories within same project, or space they call it, and have different permissions per role(watcher, member, owner ) on each of these repositories. Or you can pick a portfolio solution to manage multiple spaces within a single portfolio with different teams and permissions. It is a complex product does a lot of things, just need to take time and check it deeper.

Answer 2

I have since looked around a little bit and believe I have found a svn solution for the kind of access restrictions I am after.

The solution I am now looking into is VersionShelf. Although they don't seem to be as speedy as Assembla for checkins/checkouts (early usage seems to indicate this) they appear to offer the per repository access restrictions to the fine grain level I need.

Again, it appears Assembla and Unfuddle (which i also checked out) have this on their top requested feature so it may happen for these solutions in the near future.

Answer 3

I[ve been using Assembla for several months now. And this is my small contribution to the subject. Actually, there is a difference between repositories and spaces. If you create a space in Assembla you can add multiple repositories to the same space. A space is just a place where you hold your project. If you go to the Admin Tab of your space under the Tools sections you'll find the option to add another svn repo within the same space. And yes, it's true, if you grant certain access to a certain user, then the user gets the same access to the rest of the repos. So, let's say that you want a certain user to have edit access to svn repo1 but not to snv repo2 then, you should create a different space to hold that second repo.

Hope it helps!

Answer 4

1. Assemlba's ACLs works on per-project basis, not per-repo (i.e. you grant the same access to all repos inside project for all and any userlevel)
2. Open repository allow read access for everybody
3. Consequence of point 1 and point 2: if you add user into one project with one repo it's rather easy to find others "hidden" repos in common case (if common user(s) shared across projects)
4. Consequence of point 1 and point 2 and point 3: if you want really secure repo, you have to create private project and collect all repos inside it

Answer 5

I looked at Assembla, but couldn't find any information and didn't want to create a space. Does Assmebla give you access to the Subversion repository server itself? If not, there's probably isn't a way to specify the details you want.

Let's get a few things straight in your definitions:

• Repository: A repository is a Subversion directory created with the svnadmin create command. It can contain a single project or multiple projects, each with its own trunk, branches, and tags directories.
• Module: This is a project in a Subversion repository. There might be multiple modules in a single repository, or a single module. Each module will normally contain its own trunk, tags, and branches directories.

I believe Assmebla is saying that a space is a single Subversion repository. When you say multiple repositories, I am assuming you are talking about multiple modules in a single repository/space.

In Subversion, if you have control over the Subversion server and the repository directory itself, you can control the directory access per user. That way, you could have a single repository with multiple modules (which I assume you have) and you can control who has read and write access to each module.

If Assembla is like most Subversion hosting sites, they don't give you direct access to the server. Instead, you use the tools they give you, and its very rare that a site will give you tools to give you this fine degree of control. Instead, a user has access to the repository, or doesn't. (And that access could include or not include write access).

If you want a separate repository in Assembla for this contractor, you will probably have to create a second space just for this contractor and pay for two spaces.

One more thing about Subversion: You cannot svn copy, svn merge, or use svn:external between repositories. I don't know if this last one is an issue for you or not.