Development

XBAT project development is hosted by Google-code project-hosting:

• http://code.google.com/p/xbat-devel/

Through the project-hosting service we provide access to development versions of XBAT using Subversion.

Eventually, we hope to use the the issue-tracker and wiki as well. Currently however, the best place to ask, learn, and voice your opinion about XBAT development is through the Google-groups:

• http://groups.google.com/group/xbat-devel
• http://groups.google.com/group/xbat-users

Repository

The basics of how to access the Subversion repository, are described at:

http://code.google.com/p/xbat-devel/source

For Windows users however, we recommend that you use the TortoiseSVN, which has great shell integration. Basic repository access, "checkout" and "update" using this client are fully described below.

Note that the development version, the "trunk", will not always be stable, we will try to indicate this when it happens using the Subversion logs.

You may have to learn something about Subversion to work with the repository, but this will be well worth your while. Working from the repository you have the capacity to update your version every time the development team does and to roll-back to any previous "revision" if anything breaks, think time machine.

Fortunately, to learn more about Subversion, you can use the definitive book Version Control with Subversion, online and free!

TortoiseSVN Access

For Windows users, we recommend accessing the Subversion repository using the TortoiseSVN client for Windows. These are detailed instructions for basic repository access using the TortoiseSVN client.

Once TortoiseSVN is installed, you get a "working copy" of XBAT by performing a "checkout", follow these instructions:

1. Create a folder for the checkout. For example "XBAT_DEV".
2. Right-click on the folder and use the command "SVN Checkout ..."
3. Enter http://xbat-devel.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ in the "URL of repository" field.
4. Click OK. The checkout begins, this will take some time.

When the "checkout" has completed, you can run XBAT from the "checkout" folder, as described in the Install page.

The checkout folder, "XBAT_DEV" in the example, is a Subversion "working copy" that can be updated using Subversion. To get future XBAT updates, you simply "update" your "working copy" using Subversion:

1. Right-click on the folder and use the command "SVN Update ..."
2. The update begins, this will take some time depending on the magnitude of the changes.