Creating a new repository
sudo svnadmin create PATH_TO_REPOSITORY
if on a network filesystem, add:
--fs-type=fsfs
Make sure it's owned by the webserver. On Ubuntu:
sudo chown -R www-data:subversion PATH_TO_REPOSITORY
Setting up a subversion repository over http / https: edit /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/dav_svn.conf and add something like this:
<Location /svn/REPO_NAME> DAV svn SVNPath /home/svn/REPO_NAME AuthType Basic AuthName "papers repository on MY_SERVER" AuthUserFile /etc/subversion/REPO_NAME-passwd Require valid-user </Location>
then you have to go create the password file mentioned above in AuthUserFile:
sudo htpasswd -c /etc/subversion/REPO_NAME-passwd USERNAME
Adding users to a pre-existing htpassword file
sudo htpasswd /etc/subversion/REPO_NAME-passwd USERNAME
Then restart Apache to bring it all up:
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart