You will never know if anyone is working in the file. SVN creates a ‘copy’ of the repository, just like GIT does (I guess), but does not build. So there is no real link between the downloaded structure I can work in, and the SVN local repository.
Apparently, it is not the way programmers work. But the programmers working set is not workable for me at all, too much tools and complexity.
I whish it were a simple online tool, where one could edit rules in a wiki-like way, have it run tests, see the results. Edit data elements and files where possible and applicable.