ViewVC

Creator:
Platform: Python
License: open source (custom)

I’ve installed ViewVC, and while it can be tricky to integrate, standalone it’s a snap.  It’s not the best viewer out there though, and my main complaint is that it seems a bit slow.

Fisheye

Creator: Atlassian
Platform: Java servlet
License: commercial

Fisheye is nice, but I never really liked it that much.  I’d give it a slight edge over ViewVC, but not to pay for.   Jira integration is a major selling point.

WebSVN

Creator: Tim Armes, Sebastion Petters, Dirk Thomas
Platform: PHP
License: open source

WebSVN is what Tigris (the makers of SVN) use to browse their repository.  It’s fairly basic, and being PHP, it’s fairly easy to install, except on Windows you’re bound to run into problems with the PHP subversion extension.

Chora

Creator: Horde
Platform: PHP
License: open source

Chora is part of the Horde project.  I’ve used IMP (the Horde webmail client) quite a bit.  Horde apps aren’t that pretty, but they’re fairly mature.  Chora, like ViewVC, takes a bit of clicking to get to the code, since it’s not too ajaxy.  But that can be a good thing.

bsSvnBrowser

Creator: BountySource
Platform: Ruby on Rails
License: recently open sourced

Yet another Rails SVN Browser (I wonder if the main functionality ships with webrick?).  I’m not knocking Bounty, it seems fairly nice.  I only tried their demo, and it seems quite responsive and simply laid out.   The more I poke around, the more I like it.  But I haven’t tried installing it.

Warehouse

Creator: ActiveReload
Platform: Ruby on Rails
License: recently open sourced

Warehouse gets good reviews for presentation, but I haven’t seen it.  I tried the demo, but got an error once and then an empty repository.  I wasn’t that impressed with the screenshots, though all I can say is the UI scores high on Web 2.0 (and I don’t even think it has rounded corners.)

Sventon

Creator:
Platform: Java servlet
License: open source (BSD)

I haven’t really used Sventon, but one feature I liked in the screenshots is the source view that shows the author next to each line.  It also gets high marks from users.  Probably one of the more featureful repository browsers, and looks like it is the most like browsing the repository manually.  Transition from a command line user is clear, like with big buttons for “blame” and “log” and other commands the svn expert is familiar with.  This will be on my list to give a second look.

Trac

Creator: Edgewall
Platform: Python
License: open source

Trac has a repository viewer, but is primarily a wiki-based project management tool.  Or rather a wiki that can be used for basic project management, that includes repository viewing.  It also includes a simple issue tracker.  While I don’t use the issue tracker, it is a servicible, though basic wiki, and a decent code browser.  The strength lies in the combination of tools.  It’s a favorite of mine for a “design” centered wiki because you can tie design documents to the code.  If  Trac could integrate with more powerful defect and task management, I’d be even happier with it.

Redmine

Platform: Ruby on Rails
License: open source (GPL)

I really like the Redmine repository view.  Much like Trac, it it more than a repository browser, though.  I think Redmine has one-upped Trac with a cleaner interface and more features. Redmine beats Trac for repository browsing, but I like Trac’s version comparison better.  Redmine is probably my favorite current viewer, though bsSvnViewer and Sventon look like contenders, though they lack project and issue management (which might be better), especially if I can integrate them with Bugzilla and scmbug and a QA Site dashboard.

Collaboa

Creator: Johan Sørensen
Platform: Ruby on Rails.
License: open source

Collaboa is another compsite tool that readily acknowledges their influence by Trac.  It looks more like Trac than Redmine, which is a plus in my book.  I didn’t see a demo, but one thing caught my eye, a future goal for supporting  “Continuous integration of tests/builds”.  I might want to get involved.

Of course the three tools I use most to browse subversion are: 1) the svn command line, 2) TortoiseSVN, and 3) the Eclipse Subversive plugin, but these really aren’t any good at distributed collaboration or integration with defect tracking or requirements management tools.  And they’re not web-based.