[Subclipse-users] Suggestions for easing svn+ssh connection for Windows users

I just downloaded Eclipse 3.3.1.1 Java IDE on Windows XP SP2 and
installed Subclipse 1.2.4. (I was previously running Subversive on
Eclipse 3.1.) The "-->" below are specific suggestions to make svn+ssh
connection setup easier for Windows users.

I went through http://subclipse.tigris.org/install.html, and reached
"the first thing you will typically want to do is open the Subclipse
Repository perspective where you can define your repositories"

--> That's not true for Windows users trying to use svn+ssh. They first
need to decide between JavaHL, which requires that they have a working
ssh.exe executable and that they modify their Subversion configuration
to point to it, or SVNKit. You should modify install.html to add this
warning, linking to the FAQ section for this.

I'm trying to add a repository for
svn+ssh://skierpage@svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/trunk/extensions/SemanticMediaWiki
, following the help for "Creating a new Repository Location".

The initial "Add a new SVN Repository" dialog has no guidelines. But
the Properties dialog for a repository has a nice warning tip
    "If your repository url is
http://mycompany.com/repository/trunk/project, your repository url is
probably http://mycompany.com/repository"

--> Could you add the same tip to the initial Add dialog?

When I add svn+ssh://svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki , I get
   Error validating location:
"org.tigris.subversion.javahl.ClientException: The system cannot find
the file specified."
   svn: Can't create tunnel: The system cannot find the file specified.
   "
   Keep location anyway?

If I say yes then reconnect, I get
   Folder " does not exist remotely.

--> These are the defaults error that a Windows user will hit when first
using Subclipse for a svn+ssh connection. Perhaps the code could do a
test first to see if ssh works, or report the real problem, which is no
ssh executable defined in the tunnels section of Subversion configuration.

The help leads to the FAQ section "How do I configure an svn+ssh://
connection" that says "If you are using the JavaHL adapter... if you
are using the SVNKit client adapter".

--> Please prefix this FAQ section with
   "The issues in using svn+ssh depend on what adapter you are using.
   See the section _What is an adapter_".
--> The adapter section of the FAQ should say "To see what adapter you
are using, choose Window > Preferences, navigate to Team > SVN and look
for SVN Interface."
--> The adapter section of the FAQ does not mention SVNKit, it mentions
JavaSVN, but there's no option for this in Preferences. I think the
SVNKit replaced JavaSVN.
--> The "Which adapter should I use?" section of the FAQ does not say
that JavaHL requires a working ssh executable on Windows.

The FAQ has a link to the e-mail message about configuring ssh in the
[tunnels] section and with that I got it working, because I happen to
have the Cygwin ssh.exe client installed. But I'm pretty experienced in
ssh and Subversion, the average Windows user would have *really*
struggled. I wound up using SVNKit instead as the adapter, that also
worked and was more straightforward than JavaHL.

FWIW, Subversive didn't require these steps, IIRC it reused the CVS SSH2
configuration information. Pasting in
svn+ssh://skierpage@svn.wikimedia.org/svnroot/mediawiki/trunk/extensions/SemanticMediaWiki
just magically worked.

Regards,

--
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