Adding version control to an existing project

Question

I am working on a project that has grown to a decent size, and I am the only developer. We currently don't use any version control, but I definitely need to start.

I want to use Subversion. What would be the best way to transfer an existing project to it?

I have a test server that I use for developing new features, then transfer those files to the 2 production servers. Is there a tool that will automate the upload to the test, then the deployment to the live servers?

All this is developed in ASP.NET using Visual Studio (if that matters)

Answer 1

To expand a little on the previous answer...

1) Create a new SVN repository
2) Commit all the code you've worked on so far to it
3) Check all that code OUT again, to create a working copy on your dev machine
4) Work!

It's definitely not a hurdle, really.

Answer 2

I didn't see anybody addressing this part of your question/post:

Is there a tool that will automate the upload to the test, then the deployment to the live servers?

One gotcha is that Subversion creates hidden .svn folders in your working copy. One of the solutions is to use the svn export command. That will make a copy of your repository on another directory without the .svn folders.

As far as I know there is no automated tool for this. You can create a batch file that will issue the svn export command like this:

svn export C:\MyReporitosy\Path C:\DestinationPath

Just include this as part of your deployment process. Make sure to deploy your code from this exported directory and not your working copy. You should be fine then.