Bots: Configure version control

To control edits to files that might include Task Bots, MetaBots, docs, reports, scripts, exe files, and workflows, as an Control Room admin, you can configure version control in the Control Room settings.

The Control Room is integrated with Subversion Version Control so that the version, checkin or checkout, version history, and version rollback functionality can be leveraged with ease for all files. By default, the feature is disabled.

Version control prerequisites

  • For version control to be enabled and integrated from the Control Room, the SVN server must be installed and configured.
    Note: Automation Anywhere Control Room supports various versions of the SVN. See Version control requirements.
  • SVN administrator user should be created with required permissions.
  • SVN repository should be created, which can be used to store all version control files.

    Reusing an SVN repository that is not empty for multiple Control Room instances, such as development and UAT environments, might delete version details and the history of existing bots. If the Control Room instances for development and UAT are different, then either reuse an empty SVN repository or create a new SVN repository.

    Note: After the Control Room integration with SVN is up and running, all communication for version control operations from the Automation Anywhere Enterprise Client to SVN take places only through the Control Room.

Impact of enabling and disabling version control settings

When you enable and disable version control settings in the Control Room, it affects the way the Enterprise Client can access bots and upload those to the Control Room. While enabling and disabling this setting, ensure you are aware about its impact, which is summarized in the following list:

  • When you enable version control settings, the system uploads the bots from the Control Room repository to the SVN repository.

    During SVN syncing, the Control Room repository is in read-only mode and locked. You will not be able to perform actions such as upload, delete, set production version, checkout, checkin, undo checkout, and force unlock.

  • When you disable version control settings, the files that are in checked-out state are listed for force unlock by the Control Room administrator. You are allowed to disable the settings only when you unlock the checked-out files.
  • When you reenable version control settings, you can:
    • Connect to the repository where you uploaded the bots earlier. Version history of existing bots is also retained. As a result:
      • The version of the bots that are not updated remains the same.
      • A new version of the updated bots is created.
      • Production version is not set if the option Do not assign production version. I will do so manually is selected.
      • Production version is set to latest versions of the bots if the option Automatically assign the latest version of bots to production version is selected.
    • To avoid any error, connect to a new repository that is empty. Your version history of the earlier repository is not retained. Also, you can choose to set the production version manually or automatically.

All updates to the Version control system settings are captured in the Audit Log page.