There really isn't an easy way to find out what version of Subversion your server is running -- except to get onto the server and see for yourself.
However, this may not be as big a problem as you may think. Subversion clients is were much of the grunt work is handled, and most versions of the Subversion clients can work with almost any version of the server.
The last release where the server version really made a difference to the client was the change from release 1.4 to release 1.5 when merge tracking was added. Merge tracking had been greatly improved in version 1.6, but that doesn't really affect the interactions between the client and server.
Let's take the latest changes in Subversion 1.8:
svn move
is now a first class operation: Subversion finally understands the svn move
is not a svn copy
and svn delete
. However, this is something that the client handles and doesn't really affect the server version.
svn merge --reintegrate
deprecated: Again, as long as the server is at version 1.5 or greater this isn't an issue.
- Property Inheritance: This is another 1.8 release update, but this will work with any Subversion server -- although Subversion servers running 1.8 will deliver better performance on inheritable properties.
- Two new inheritable properties -
svn:global-ignores
and svn:auto-props
: Alas! What we really wanted. A way to setup these two properties without depending upon the Subversion configuration file itself. However, this is a client-only issue, so it again doesn't matter what version of the server you're using.
- gnu-agent memory caching: Another client-only feature.
- fsfs performance enhancements and authz in-repository authentication. Nice features, but these work no matter what version of the client you're using.
Of all the features, only one depends upon the version of the server being 1.5 or greater (and 1.4 has been obsolete for quite a while. The newer features of 1.8 will improve performance of your working copy, but the server being at revision 1.8 isn't necessary. You're much more affected by your client version than your server version.
I know this isn't the answer you wanted (no official way to see the server version), but fortunately the server version doesn't really affect you that much.