For now, the [general] section of the svnserve.conf has all the variables you need. Begin by defining a file which contains usernames and passwords, and an authentication realm:

[general]
password-db = userfile
realm = example realm

The realm is a name that you define. It tells clients which sort of “authentication namespace” they're connecting to; the Subversion client displays it in the authentication prompt, and uses it as a key (along with the server's hostname and port) for caching credentials on disk (see the section called “Client Credentials Caching”). The password-db variable points to a separate file that contains a list of usernames and passwords, using the same familiar format. For example:

[users]
harry = foopassword
sally = barpassword

The value of password-db can be an absolute or relative path to the users file. For many admins, it's easy to keep the file right in the conf/ area of the repository, alongside svnserve.conf. On the other hand, it's possible you may want to have two or more repositories share the same users file; in that case, the file should probably live in a more public place. The repositories sharing the users file should also be configured to have the same realm, since the list of users essentially defines an authentication realm. Wherever the file lives, be sure to set the file's read and write permissions appropriately. If you know which user(s) svnserve will run as, restrict read access to the user file as necessary.