Last week we introduced you to Subversion. This week, we’re going to show you how to access Subversion repositories. Since Subversion is often used during development of new versions, this means that you can have access to this developmental version earlier than usual.

As we mentioned last week, when you download code from a repository, you’re doing a checkout. In our case we want to checkout the WordPress Subversion repository. To do this, we will need a Subversion client install on our computer. If you’re using Mac OS X or a distribution of Linux, chances are that you already have a command line Subversion client installed. Which is fine, and we’ll use that. If you’re using Windows, then you’ll need to install a Subversion client. I recommend TortoiseSVN which integrating into your right-click menu, and is made by the same company who makes Subversion.

We’re going to checkout the latest developmental version of WordPress, the trunk. On Windows, create a new directory to house WordPress. Then, (inside that directory) right-click and go TortoiseSVN > Checkout. Type in http://svn.automattic.com/wordpress/trunk in the repository URL box and click Ok.

On Mac/Linux, create a new directory and start Terminal. cd to the directory you created and type in svn co http://svn.automattic.com/wordpress/trunk . (that period at the end in important).

Now you’ll have the very latest developmental version of WordPress on your computer. If you want to update it (since it changes quite frequently), on Windows right-click in the directory and go TortoiseSVN > Update. On Mac/Linux type svn up in Terminal (navigated to the correct directory).

There you have it, a checkout of a Subversion respository.