Fun with Subversion - Hooks

I use Subversion as an SCM tool for all my projects, and I use Basecamp as a simple project management tool. They’re both tremendously useful, pretty simple to start using, and they can work together using Subversion’s hooks. I’ve started using a script from Simon Gate that posts a Subversion commit log to a Basecamp account as a message, which is great because I don’t have to do double data entry to keep both myself and my clients keyed in on project status.

Assuming you have a subversion repository set up already, all you have to do is download Simon’s script to your repository hooks directory, rename it as post-commit, add in your Basecamp account info and ensure it is executable by subversion. From the command line:

$> wget http://simongate.com/assets/2007/6/5/svn_basecamp_beuno.rb
$> mv svn_basecamp_beuno.rb /path/to/repos/hooks/post-commit
$> chmod 755 /path/to/repos/hooks/post-commit


Edit your new post-commit script to contain your Basecamp username, password, projectID and message category ID, and you should be up and running. Alternatively, there is another Ruby script with the same functionality available from Webtypes, but it didn’t match my configuration as closely as Simon’s, and would have required more customization. However, it might be a better fit for you, as it supports multiple Basecamp and Subversion logins.