My previous blog entry discussed the issue of repository layout. This entry will try to answer the question of whether you should have one repository per project or a single repository that houses all your projects. There is not going to be a single right answer to this question. Hopefully this post will help you understand the tradeoffs so you can make the right decision that suits your requirements. These are some of the advantages of the single repository approach.
1. Simplified administration. One set of hooks to deploy. One repository to backup. etc.
2. Branch/tag flexibility. With the code all in one repository it makes it easier to create a branch or tag involving multiple projects.
3. Move code easily. Perhaps you want to take a section of code from one project and use it in another, or turn it into a library for several projects. It is easy to move the code within the same repository and retain the history of the code in the process.
Here are some of the drawbacks to the single repository approach, advantages to the multiple repository approach.
1. Size. It might be easier to deal with many smaller repositories than one large one. For example, if you retire a project you can just archive the repository to media and remove it from the disk and free up the storage. Maybe you need to dump/load a repository for some reason, such as to take advantage of a new Subversion feature. This is easier to do and with less impact if it is a smaller repository. Even if you eventually want to do it to all of your repositories, it will have less impact to do them one at a time, assuming there is not a pressing need to do them all at once.
2. Global revision number. Even though this should not be an issue, some people perceive it to be one and do not like to see the revision number advance on the repository and for inactive projects to have large gaps in their revision history.
3. Access control. While Subversion’s authz mechanism allows you to restrict access as needed to parts of the repository, it is still easier to do this at the repository level. If you have a project that only a select few individuals should access, this is easier to do with a single repository for that project.
4. Administrative flexibility. If you have multiple repositories, then it is easier to implement different hook scripts based on the needs of the repository/projects. If you want uniform hook scripts, then a single repository might be better, but if each project wants its own commit email style then it is easier to have those projects in separate repositories
This is just a sampling of the pros and cons of each approach. Hopefully it gives you something to go on to make a decision. I tend to prefer the one repository per project approach with the caveat that if I have many projects that are related to each other, I would put those all in the same repository. I also tend to break up repositories by group or team, although in reality this is just a variation of the project concept.
For example, I had one repository for the Documentation department to use for their projects. Of course in the case of on-line help that was often located in the same project as the application code, but the Documentation team also had other materials they produced and I gave them a repository for that. Likewise, the Marketing department had a repository to store the things they worked on, including the company web site. As was the case with the layout of the repository, this is really just a decision of what will work best for you. That said, it is a little more difficult to change your repository setup after the fact.
So, it is worth it to take some time to understand your requirements and which approach best suits them.
