Use apt-get or yum to install Subversion.

apt-get install subversion
yum install subversion

Subversion may not be able to start if the /var/svn directory does not exist. Create the /var/svn directory.

mkdir /var/svn

The ps command can be used to determine if your system is using init or systemd. If PID 1 is init, then you will use the service command. If PID 1 is systemd, then you will use the systemctl command.

If your system is using systemd, use the systemctl command to start and enable svnserve.

systemctl enable svnserve
systemctl start svnserve
systemctl status svnserve

If your system is using init, use the chkconfig and service commands to start and enable svnserve.

chkconfig svnserve on
service svnserve start
service svnserve status

The svnserve command can then be used to view the version of Subversion that was installed.

svnserve --version