Documentation / git-svn.txton commit Documentation: add "Fighting regressions with git bisect" article (69a9cd3)
   1git-svn(1)
   2==========
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-svn - Bidirectional operation between a Subversion repository and git
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10'git svn' <command> [options] [arguments]
  11
  12DESCRIPTION
  13-----------
  14'git svn' is a simple conduit for changesets between Subversion and git.
  15It provides a bidirectional flow of changes between a Subversion and a git
  16repository.
  17
  18'git svn' can track a standard Subversion repository,
  19following the common "trunk/branches/tags" layout, with the --stdlayout option.
  20It can also follow branches and tags in any layout with the -T/-t/-b options
  21(see options to 'init' below, and also the 'clone' command).
  22
  23Once tracking a Subversion repository (with any of the above methods), the git
  24repository can be updated from Subversion by the 'fetch' command and
  25Subversion updated from git by the 'dcommit' command.
  26
  27COMMANDS
  28--------
  29
  30'init'::
  31        Initializes an empty git repository with additional
  32        metadata directories for 'git svn'.  The Subversion URL
  33        may be specified as a command-line argument, or as full
  34        URL arguments to -T/-t/-b.  Optionally, the target
  35        directory to operate on can be specified as a second
  36        argument.  Normally this command initializes the current
  37        directory.
  38
  39-T<trunk_subdir>;;
  40--trunk=<trunk_subdir>;;
  41-t<tags_subdir>;;
  42--tags=<tags_subdir>;;
  43-b<branches_subdir>;;
  44--branches=<branches_subdir>;;
  45-s;;
  46--stdlayout;;
  47        These are optional command-line options for init.  Each of
  48        these flags can point to a relative repository path
  49        (--tags=project/tags) or a full url
  50        (--tags=https://foo.org/project/tags).
  51        You can specify more than one --tags and/or --branches options, in case
  52        your Subversion repository places tags or branches under multiple paths.
  53        The option --stdlayout is
  54        a shorthand way of setting trunk,tags,branches as the relative paths,
  55        which is the Subversion default. If any of the other options are given
  56        as well, they take precedence.
  57--no-metadata;;
  58        Set the 'noMetadata' option in the [svn-remote] config.
  59--use-svm-props;;
  60        Set the 'useSvmProps' option in the [svn-remote] config.
  61--use-svnsync-props;;
  62        Set the 'useSvnsyncProps' option in the [svn-remote] config.
  63--rewrite-root=<URL>;;
  64        Set the 'rewriteRoot' option in the [svn-remote] config.
  65--username=<USER>;;
  66        For transports that SVN handles authentication for (http,
  67        https, and plain svn), specify the username.  For other
  68        transports (eg svn+ssh://), you must include the username in
  69        the URL, eg svn+ssh://foo@svn.bar.com/project
  70--prefix=<prefix>;;
  71        This allows one to specify a prefix which is prepended
  72        to the names of remotes if trunk/branches/tags are
  73        specified.  The prefix does not automatically include a
  74        trailing slash, so be sure you include one in the
  75        argument if that is what you want.  If --branches/-b is
  76        specified, the prefix must include a trailing slash.
  77        Setting a prefix is useful if you wish to track multiple
  78        projects that share a common repository.
  79--ignore-paths=<regex>;;
  80        When passed to 'init' or 'clone' this regular expression will
  81        be preserved as a config key.  See 'fetch' for a description
  82        of '--ignore-paths'.
  83--no-minimize-url;;
  84        When tracking multiple directories (using --stdlayout,
  85        --branches, or --tags options), git svn will attempt to connect
  86        to the root (or highest allowed level) of the Subversion
  87        repository.  This default allows better tracking of history if
  88        entire projects are moved within a repository, but may cause
  89        issues on repositories where read access restrictions are in
  90        place.  Passing '--no-minimize-url' will allow git svn to
  91        accept URLs as-is without attempting to connect to a higher
  92        level directory.  This option is off by default when only
  93        one URL/branch is tracked (it would do little good).
  94
  95'fetch'::
  96        Fetch unfetched revisions from the Subversion remote we are
  97        tracking.  The name of the [svn-remote "..."] section in the
  98        .git/config file may be specified as an optional command-line
  99        argument.
 100
 101--localtime;;
 102        Store Git commit times in the local timezone instead of UTC.  This
 103        makes 'git log' (even without --date=local) show the same times
 104        that `svn log` would in the local timezone.
 105+
 106This doesn't interfere with interoperating with the Subversion
 107repository you cloned from, but if you wish for your local Git
 108repository to be able to interoperate with someone else's local Git
 109repository, either don't use this option or you should both use it in
 110the same local timezone.
 111
 112--parent;;
 113        Fetch only from the SVN parent of the current HEAD.
 114
 115--ignore-paths=<regex>;;
 116        This allows one to specify a Perl regular expression that will
 117        cause skipping of all matching paths from checkout from SVN.
 118        The '--ignore-paths' option should match for every 'fetch'
 119        (including automatic fetches due to 'clone', 'dcommit',
 120        'rebase', etc) on a given repository.
 121+
 122[verse]
 123config key: svn-remote.<name>.ignore-paths
 124+
 125If the ignore-paths config key is set and the command line option is
 126also given, both regular expressions will be used.
 127+
 128Examples:
 129+
 130--
 131Skip "doc*" directory for every fetch;;
 132+
 133------------------------------------------------------------------------
 134--ignore-paths="^doc"
 135------------------------------------------------------------------------
 136
 137Skip "branches" and "tags" of first level directories;;
 138+
 139------------------------------------------------------------------------
 140--ignore-paths="^[^/]+/(?:branches|tags)"
 141------------------------------------------------------------------------
 142--
 143
 144--use-log-author;;
 145        When retrieving svn commits into git (as part of fetch, rebase, or
 146        dcommit operations), look for the first From: or Signed-off-by: line
 147        in the log message and use that as the author string.
 148--add-author-from;;
 149        When committing to svn from git (as part of commit or dcommit
 150        operations), if the existing log message doesn't already have a
 151        From: or Signed-off-by: line, append a From: line based on the
 152        git commit's author string.  If you use this, then --use-log-author
 153        will retrieve a valid author string for all commits.
 154
 155'clone'::
 156        Runs 'init' and 'fetch'.  It will automatically create a
 157        directory based on the basename of the URL passed to it;
 158        or if a second argument is passed; it will create a directory
 159        and work within that.  It accepts all arguments that the
 160        'init' and 'fetch' commands accept; with the exception of
 161        '--fetch-all' and '--parent'.  After a repository is cloned,
 162        the 'fetch' command will be able to update revisions without
 163        affecting the working tree; and the 'rebase' command will be
 164        able to update the working tree with the latest changes.
 165
 166'rebase'::
 167        This fetches revisions from the SVN parent of the current HEAD
 168        and rebases the current (uncommitted to SVN) work against it.
 169+
 170This works similarly to `svn update` or 'git pull' except that
 171it preserves linear history with 'git rebase' instead of
 172'git merge' for ease of dcommitting with 'git svn'.
 173+
 174This accepts all options that 'git svn fetch' and 'git rebase'
 175accept.  However, '--fetch-all' only fetches from the current
 176[svn-remote], and not all [svn-remote] definitions.
 177+
 178Like 'git rebase'; this requires that the working tree be clean
 179and have no uncommitted changes.
 180
 181-l;;
 182--local;;
 183        Do not fetch remotely; only run 'git rebase' against the
 184        last fetched commit from the upstream SVN.
 185
 186'dcommit'::
 187        Commit each diff from a specified head directly to the SVN
 188        repository, and then rebase or reset (depending on whether or
 189        not there is a diff between SVN and head).  This will create
 190        a revision in SVN for each commit in git.
 191        It is recommended that you run 'git svn' fetch and rebase (not
 192        pull or merge) your commits against the latest changes in the
 193        SVN repository.
 194        An optional revision or branch argument may be specified, and
 195        causes 'git svn' to do all work on that revision/branch
 196        instead of HEAD.
 197        This is advantageous over 'set-tree' (below) because it produces
 198        cleaner, more linear history.
 199+
 200--no-rebase;;
 201        After committing, do not rebase or reset.
 202--commit-url <URL>;;
 203        Commit to this SVN URL (the full path).  This is intended to
 204        allow existing 'git svn' repositories created with one transport
 205        method (e.g. `svn://` or `http://` for anonymous read) to be
 206        reused if a user is later given access to an alternate transport
 207        method (e.g. `svn+ssh://` or `https://`) for commit.
 208+
 209[verse]
 210config key: svn-remote.<name>.commiturl
 211config key: svn.commiturl (overwrites all svn-remote.<name>.commiturl options)
 212+
 213Using this option for any other purpose (don't ask) is very strongly
 214discouraged.
 215
 216'branch'::
 217        Create a branch in the SVN repository.
 218
 219-m;;
 220--message;;
 221        Allows to specify the commit message.
 222
 223-t;;
 224--tag;;
 225        Create a tag by using the tags_subdir instead of the branches_subdir
 226        specified during git svn init.
 227
 228-d;;
 229--destination;;
 230        If more than one --branches (or --tags) option was given to the 'init'
 231        or 'clone' command, you must provide the location of the branch (or
 232        tag) you wish to create in the SVN repository.  The value of this
 233        option must match one of the paths specified by a --branches (or
 234        --tags) option.  You can see these paths with the commands
 235+
 236        git config --get-all svn-remote.<name>.branches
 237        git config --get-all svn-remote.<name>.tags
 238+
 239where <name> is the name of the SVN repository as specified by the -R option to
 240'init' (or "svn" by default).
 241
 242'tag'::
 243        Create a tag in the SVN repository. This is a shorthand for
 244        'branch -t'.
 245
 246'log'::
 247        This should make it easy to look up svn log messages when svn
 248        users refer to -r/--revision numbers.
 249+
 250The following features from `svn log' are supported:
 251+
 252--
 253-r <n>[:<n>];;
 254--revision=<n>[:<n>];;
 255        is supported, non-numeric args are not:
 256        HEAD, NEXT, BASE, PREV, etc ...
 257-v;;
 258--verbose;;
 259        it's not completely compatible with the --verbose
 260        output in svn log, but reasonably close.
 261--limit=<n>;;
 262        is NOT the same as --max-count, doesn't count
 263        merged/excluded commits
 264--incremental;;
 265        supported
 266--
 267+
 268New features:
 269+
 270--
 271--show-commit;;
 272        shows the git commit sha1, as well
 273--oneline;;
 274        our version of --pretty=oneline
 275--
 276+
 277NOTE: SVN itself only stores times in UTC and nothing else. The regular svn
 278client converts the UTC time to the local time (or based on the TZ=
 279environment). This command has the same behaviour.
 280+
 281Any other arguments are passed directly to 'git log'
 282
 283'blame'::
 284       Show what revision and author last modified each line of a file. The
 285       output of this mode is format-compatible with the output of
 286       `svn blame' by default. Like the SVN blame command,
 287       local uncommitted changes in the working copy are ignored;
 288       the version of the file in the HEAD revision is annotated. Unknown
 289       arguments are passed directly to 'git blame'.
 290+
 291--git-format;;
 292        Produce output in the same format as 'git blame', but with
 293        SVN revision numbers instead of git commit hashes. In this mode,
 294        changes that haven't been committed to SVN (including local
 295        working-copy edits) are shown as revision 0.
 296
 297'find-rev'::
 298        When given an SVN revision number of the form 'rN', returns the
 299        corresponding git commit hash (this can optionally be followed by a
 300        tree-ish to specify which branch should be searched).  When given a
 301        tree-ish, returns the corresponding SVN revision number.
 302
 303'set-tree'::
 304        You should consider using 'dcommit' instead of this command.
 305        Commit specified commit or tree objects to SVN.  This relies on
 306        your imported fetch data being up-to-date.  This makes
 307        absolutely no attempts to do patching when committing to SVN, it
 308        simply overwrites files with those specified in the tree or
 309        commit.  All merging is assumed to have taken place
 310        independently of 'git svn' functions.
 311
 312'create-ignore'::
 313        Recursively finds the svn:ignore property on directories and
 314        creates matching .gitignore files. The resulting files are staged to
 315        be committed, but are not committed. Use -r/--revision to refer to a
 316        specific revision.
 317
 318'show-ignore'::
 319        Recursively finds and lists the svn:ignore property on
 320        directories.  The output is suitable for appending to
 321        the $GIT_DIR/info/exclude file.
 322
 323'commit-diff'::
 324        Commits the diff of two tree-ish arguments from the
 325        command-line.  This command does not rely on being inside an `git svn
 326        init`-ed repository.  This command takes three arguments, (a) the
 327        original tree to diff against, (b) the new tree result, (c) the
 328        URL of the target Subversion repository.  The final argument
 329        (URL) may be omitted if you are working from a 'git svn'-aware
 330        repository (that has been `init`-ed with 'git svn').
 331        The -r<revision> option is required for this.
 332
 333'info'::
 334        Shows information about a file or directory similar to what
 335        `svn info' provides.  Does not currently support a -r/--revision
 336        argument.  Use the --url option to output only the value of the
 337        'URL:' field.
 338
 339'proplist'::
 340        Lists the properties stored in the Subversion repository about a
 341        given file or directory.  Use -r/--revision to refer to a specific
 342        Subversion revision.
 343
 344'propget'::
 345        Gets the Subversion property given as the first argument, for a
 346        file.  A specific revision can be specified with -r/--revision.
 347
 348'show-externals'::
 349        Shows the Subversion externals.  Use -r/--revision to specify a
 350        specific revision.
 351
 352'gc'::
 353        Compress $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>/unhandled.log files in .git/svn
 354        and remove $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>index files in .git/svn.
 355
 356'reset'::
 357        Undoes the effects of 'fetch' back to the specified revision.
 358        This allows you to re-'fetch' an SVN revision.  Normally the
 359        contents of an SVN revision should never change and 'reset'
 360        should not be necessary.  However, if SVN permissions change,
 361        or if you alter your --ignore-paths option, a 'fetch' may fail
 362        with "not found in commit" (file not previously visible) or
 363        "checksum mismatch" (missed a modification).  If the problem
 364        file cannot be ignored forever (with --ignore-paths) the only
 365        way to repair the repo is to use 'reset'.
 366+
 367Only the rev_map and refs/remotes/git-svn are changed.  Follow 'reset'
 368with a 'fetch' and then 'git reset' or 'git rebase' to move local
 369branches onto the new tree.
 370
 371-r <n>;;
 372--revision=<n>;;
 373        Specify the most recent revision to keep.  All later revisions
 374        are discarded.
 375-p;;
 376--parent;;
 377        Discard the specified revision as well, keeping the nearest
 378        parent instead.
 379Example:;;
 380Assume you have local changes in "master", but you need to refetch "r2".
 381+
 382------------
 383    r1---r2---r3 remotes/git-svn
 384                \
 385                 A---B master
 386------------
 387+
 388Fix the ignore-paths or SVN permissions problem that caused "r2" to
 389be incomplete in the first place.  Then:
 390+
 391[verse]
 392git svn reset -r2 -p
 393git svn fetch
 394+
 395------------
 396    r1---r2'--r3' remotes/git-svn
 397      \
 398       r2---r3---A---B master
 399------------
 400+
 401Then fixup "master" with 'git rebase'.
 402Do NOT use 'git merge' or your history will not be compatible with a
 403future 'dcommit'!
 404+
 405[verse]
 406git rebase --onto remotes/git-svn A^ master
 407+
 408------------
 409    r1---r2'--r3' remotes/git-svn
 410                \
 411                 A'--B' master
 412------------
 413
 414OPTIONS
 415-------
 416
 417--shared[={false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody}]::
 418--template=<template_directory>::
 419        Only used with the 'init' command.
 420        These are passed directly to 'git init'.
 421
 422-r <ARG>::
 423--revision <ARG>::
 424           Used with the 'fetch' command.
 425+
 426This allows revision ranges for partial/cauterized history
 427to be supported.  $NUMBER, $NUMBER1:$NUMBER2 (numeric ranges),
 428$NUMBER:HEAD, and BASE:$NUMBER are all supported.
 429+
 430This can allow you to make partial mirrors when running fetch;
 431but is generally not recommended because history will be skipped
 432and lost.
 433
 434-::
 435--stdin::
 436        Only used with the 'set-tree' command.
 437+
 438Read a list of commits from stdin and commit them in reverse
 439order.  Only the leading sha1 is read from each line, so
 440'git rev-list --pretty=oneline' output can be used.
 441
 442--rmdir::
 443        Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
 444+
 445Remove directories from the SVN tree if there are no files left
 446behind.  SVN can version empty directories, and they are not
 447removed by default if there are no files left in them.  git
 448cannot version empty directories.  Enabling this flag will make
 449the commit to SVN act like git.
 450+
 451[verse]
 452config key: svn.rmdir
 453
 454-e::
 455--edit::
 456        Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
 457+
 458Edit the commit message before committing to SVN.  This is off by
 459default for objects that are commits, and forced on when committing
 460tree objects.
 461+
 462[verse]
 463config key: svn.edit
 464
 465-l<num>::
 466--find-copies-harder::
 467        Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
 468+
 469They are both passed directly to 'git diff-tree'; see
 470linkgit:git-diff-tree[1] for more information.
 471+
 472[verse]
 473config key: svn.l
 474config key: svn.findcopiesharder
 475
 476-A<filename>::
 477--authors-file=<filename>::
 478        Syntax is compatible with the file used by 'git cvsimport':
 479+
 480------------------------------------------------------------------------
 481        loginname = Joe User <user@example.com>
 482------------------------------------------------------------------------
 483+
 484If this option is specified and 'git svn' encounters an SVN
 485committer name that does not exist in the authors-file, 'git svn'
 486will abort operation. The user will then have to add the
 487appropriate entry.  Re-running the previous 'git svn' command
 488after the authors-file is modified should continue operation.
 489+
 490[verse]
 491config key: svn.authorsfile
 492
 493--authors-prog=<filename>::
 494        If this option is specified, for each SVN committer name that
 495        does not exist in the authors file, the given file is executed
 496        with the committer name as the first argument.  The program is
 497        expected to return a single line of the form "Name <email>",
 498        which will be treated as if included in the authors file.
 499
 500-q::
 501--quiet::
 502        Make 'git svn' less verbose. Specify a second time to make it
 503        even less verbose.
 504
 505--repack[=<n>]::
 506--repack-flags=<flags>::
 507        These should help keep disk usage sane for large fetches with
 508        many revisions.
 509+
 510--repack takes an optional argument for the number of revisions
 511to fetch before repacking.  This defaults to repacking every
 5121000 commits fetched if no argument is specified.
 513+
 514--repack-flags are passed directly to 'git repack'.
 515+
 516[verse]
 517config key: svn.repack
 518config key: svn.repackflags
 519
 520-m::
 521--merge::
 522-s<strategy>::
 523--strategy=<strategy>::
 524        These are only used with the 'dcommit' and 'rebase' commands.
 525+
 526Passed directly to 'git rebase' when using 'dcommit' if a
 527'git reset' cannot be used (see 'dcommit').
 528
 529-n::
 530--dry-run::
 531        This can be used with the 'dcommit', 'rebase', 'branch' and
 532        'tag' commands.
 533+
 534For 'dcommit', print out the series of git arguments that would show
 535which diffs would be committed to SVN.
 536+
 537For 'rebase', display the local branch associated with the upstream svn
 538repository associated with the current branch and the URL of svn
 539repository that will be fetched from.
 540+
 541For 'branch' and 'tag', display the urls that will be used for copying when
 542creating the branch or tag.
 543
 544
 545ADVANCED OPTIONS
 546----------------
 547
 548-i<GIT_SVN_ID>::
 549--id <GIT_SVN_ID>::
 550        This sets GIT_SVN_ID (instead of using the environment).  This
 551        allows the user to override the default refname to fetch from
 552        when tracking a single URL.  The 'log' and 'dcommit' commands
 553        no longer require this switch as an argument.
 554
 555-R<remote name>::
 556--svn-remote <remote name>::
 557        Specify the [svn-remote "<remote name>"] section to use,
 558        this allows SVN multiple repositories to be tracked.
 559        Default: "svn"
 560
 561--follow-parent::
 562        This is especially helpful when we're tracking a directory
 563        that has been moved around within the repository, or if we
 564        started tracking a branch and never tracked the trunk it was
 565        descended from. This feature is enabled by default, use
 566        --no-follow-parent to disable it.
 567+
 568[verse]
 569config key: svn.followparent
 570
 571CONFIG FILE-ONLY OPTIONS
 572------------------------
 573
 574svn.noMetadata::
 575svn-remote.<name>.noMetadata::
 576        This gets rid of the 'git-svn-id:' lines at the end of every commit.
 577+
 578If you lose your .git/svn/git-svn/.rev_db file, 'git svn' will not
 579be able to rebuild it and you won't be able to fetch again,
 580either.  This is fine for one-shot imports.
 581+
 582The 'git svn log' command will not work on repositories using
 583this, either.  Using this conflicts with the 'useSvmProps'
 584option for (hopefully) obvious reasons.
 585
 586svn.useSvmProps::
 587svn-remote.<name>.useSvmProps::
 588        This allows 'git svn' to re-map repository URLs and UUIDs from
 589        mirrors created using SVN::Mirror (or svk) for metadata.
 590+
 591If an SVN revision has a property, "svm:headrev", it is likely
 592that the revision was created by SVN::Mirror (also used by SVK).
 593The property contains a repository UUID and a revision.  We want
 594to make it look like we are mirroring the original URL, so
 595introduce a helper function that returns the original identity
 596URL and UUID, and use it when generating metadata in commit
 597messages.
 598
 599svn.useSvnsyncProps::
 600svn-remote.<name>.useSvnsyncprops::
 601        Similar to the useSvmProps option; this is for users
 602        of the svnsync(1) command distributed with SVN 1.4.x and
 603        later.
 604
 605svn-remote.<name>.rewriteRoot::
 606        This allows users to create repositories from alternate
 607        URLs.  For example, an administrator could run 'git svn' on the
 608        server locally (accessing via file://) but wish to distribute
 609        the repository with a public http:// or svn:// URL in the
 610        metadata so users of it will see the public URL.
 611
 612svn.brokenSymlinkWorkaround::
 613        This disables potentially expensive checks to workaround
 614        broken symlinks checked into SVN by broken clients.  Set this
 615        option to "false" if you track a SVN repository with many
 616        empty blobs that are not symlinks.  This option may be changed
 617        while 'git svn' is running and take effect on the next
 618        revision fetched.  If unset, 'git svn' assumes this option to
 619        be "true".
 620
 621Since the noMetadata, rewriteRoot, useSvnsyncProps and useSvmProps
 622options all affect the metadata generated and used by 'git svn'; they
 623*must* be set in the configuration file before any history is imported
 624and these settings should never be changed once they are set.
 625
 626Additionally, only one of these four options can be used per-svn-remote
 627section because they affect the 'git-svn-id:' metadata line.
 628
 629
 630BASIC EXAMPLES
 631--------------
 632
 633Tracking and contributing to the trunk of a Subversion-managed project:
 634
 635------------------------------------------------------------------------
 636# Clone a repo (like git clone):
 637        git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project/trunk
 638# Enter the newly cloned directory:
 639        cd trunk
 640# You should be on master branch, double-check with 'git branch'
 641        git branch
 642# Do some work and commit locally to git:
 643        git commit ...
 644# Something is committed to SVN, rebase your local changes against the
 645# latest changes in SVN:
 646        git svn rebase
 647# Now commit your changes (that were committed previously using git) to SVN,
 648# as well as automatically updating your working HEAD:
 649        git svn dcommit
 650# Append svn:ignore settings to the default git exclude file:
 651        git svn show-ignore >> .git/info/exclude
 652------------------------------------------------------------------------
 653
 654Tracking and contributing to an entire Subversion-managed project
 655(complete with a trunk, tags and branches):
 656
 657------------------------------------------------------------------------
 658# Clone a repo (like git clone):
 659        git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project -T trunk -b branches -t tags
 660# View all branches and tags you have cloned:
 661        git branch -r
 662# Create a new branch in SVN
 663    git svn branch waldo
 664# Reset your master to trunk (or any other branch, replacing 'trunk'
 665# with the appropriate name):
 666        git reset --hard remotes/trunk
 667# You may only dcommit to one branch/tag/trunk at a time.  The usage
 668# of dcommit/rebase/show-ignore should be the same as above.
 669------------------------------------------------------------------------
 670
 671The initial 'git svn clone' can be quite time-consuming
 672(especially for large Subversion repositories). If multiple
 673people (or one person with multiple machines) want to use
 674'git svn' to interact with the same Subversion repository, you can
 675do the initial 'git svn clone' to a repository on a server and
 676have each person clone that repository with 'git clone':
 677
 678------------------------------------------------------------------------
 679# Do the initial import on a server
 680        ssh server "cd /pub && git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project
 681# Clone locally - make sure the refs/remotes/ space matches the server
 682        mkdir project
 683        cd project
 684        git init
 685        git remote add origin server:/pub/project
 686        git config --add remote.origin.fetch '+refs/remotes/*:refs/remotes/*'
 687        git fetch
 688# Create a local branch from one of the branches just fetched
 689        git checkout -b master FETCH_HEAD
 690# Initialize 'git svn' locally (be sure to use the same URL and -T/-b/-t options as were used on server)
 691        git svn init http://svn.example.com/project
 692# Pull the latest changes from Subversion
 693        git svn rebase
 694------------------------------------------------------------------------
 695
 696REBASE VS. PULL/MERGE
 697---------------------
 698
 699Originally, 'git svn' recommended that the 'remotes/git-svn' branch be
 700pulled or merged from.  This is because the author favored
 701`git svn set-tree B` to commit a single head rather than the
 702`git svn set-tree A..B` notation to commit multiple commits.
 703
 704If you use `git svn set-tree A..B` to commit several diffs and you do
 705not have the latest remotes/git-svn merged into my-branch, you should
 706use `git svn rebase` to update your work branch instead of `git pull` or
 707`git merge`.  `pull`/`merge` can cause non-linear history to be flattened
 708when committing into SVN, which can lead to merge commits reversing
 709previous commits in SVN.
 710
 711DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
 712-----------------
 713Merge tracking in Subversion is lacking and doing branched development
 714with Subversion can be cumbersome as a result.  While 'git svn' can track
 715copy history (including branches and tags) for repositories adopting a
 716standard layout, it cannot yet represent merge history that happened
 717inside git back upstream to SVN users.  Therefore it is advised that
 718users keep history as linear as possible inside git to ease
 719compatibility with SVN (see the CAVEATS section below).
 720
 721CAVEATS
 722-------
 723
 724For the sake of simplicity and interoperating with a less-capable system
 725(SVN), it is recommended that all 'git svn' users clone, fetch and dcommit
 726directly from the SVN server, and avoid all 'git clone'/'pull'/'merge'/'push'
 727operations between git repositories and branches.  The recommended
 728method of exchanging code between git branches and users is
 729'git format-patch' and 'git am', or just 'dcommit'ing to the SVN repository.
 730
 731Running 'git merge' or 'git pull' is NOT recommended on a branch you
 732plan to 'dcommit' from.  Subversion does not represent merges in any
 733reasonable or useful fashion; so users using Subversion cannot see any
 734merges you've made.  Furthermore, if you merge or pull from a git branch
 735that is a mirror of an SVN branch, 'dcommit' may commit to the wrong
 736branch.
 737
 738'git clone' does not clone branches under the refs/remotes/ hierarchy or
 739any 'git svn' metadata, or config.  So repositories created and managed with
 740using 'git svn' should use 'rsync' for cloning, if cloning is to be done
 741at all.
 742
 743Since 'dcommit' uses rebase internally, any git branches you 'git push' to
 744before 'dcommit' on will require forcing an overwrite of the existing ref
 745on the remote repository.  This is generally considered bad practice,
 746see the linkgit:git-push[1] documentation for details.
 747
 748Do not use the --amend option of linkgit:git-commit[1] on a change you've
 749already dcommitted.  It is considered bad practice to --amend commits
 750you've already pushed to a remote repository for other users, and
 751dcommit with SVN is analogous to that.
 752
 753When using multiple --branches or --tags, 'git svn' does not automatically
 754handle name collisions (for example, if two branches from different paths have
 755the same name, or if a branch and a tag have the same name).  In these cases,
 756use 'init' to set up your git repository then, before your first 'fetch', edit
 757the .git/config file so that the branches and tags are associated with
 758different name spaces.  For example:
 759
 760        branches = stable/*:refs/remotes/svn/stable/*
 761        branches = debug/*:refs/remotes/svn/debug/*
 762
 763BUGS
 764----
 765
 766We ignore all SVN properties except svn:executable.  Any unhandled
 767properties are logged to $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>/unhandled.log
 768
 769Renamed and copied directories are not detected by git and hence not
 770tracked when committing to SVN.  I do not plan on adding support for
 771this as it's quite difficult and time-consuming to get working for all
 772the possible corner cases (git doesn't do it, either).  Committing
 773renamed and copied files are fully supported if they're similar enough
 774for git to detect them.
 775
 776CONFIGURATION
 777-------------
 778
 779'git svn' stores [svn-remote] configuration information in the
 780repository .git/config file.  It is similar the core git
 781[remote] sections except 'fetch' keys do not accept glob
 782arguments; but they are instead handled by the 'branches'
 783and 'tags' keys.  Since some SVN repositories are oddly
 784configured with multiple projects glob expansions such those
 785listed below are allowed:
 786
 787------------------------------------------------------------------------
 788[svn-remote "project-a"]
 789        url = http://server.org/svn
 790        fetch = trunk/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/trunk
 791        branches = branches/*/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/branches/*
 792        tags = tags/*/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/tags/*
 793------------------------------------------------------------------------
 794
 795Keep in mind that the '\*' (asterisk) wildcard of the local ref
 796(right of the ':') *must* be the farthest right path component;
 797however the remote wildcard may be anywhere as long as it's an
 798independent path component (surrounded by '/' or EOL).   This
 799type of configuration is not automatically created by 'init' and
 800should be manually entered with a text-editor or using 'git config'.
 801
 802SEE ALSO
 803--------
 804linkgit:git-rebase[1]
 805
 806Author
 807------
 808Written by Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>.
 809
 810Documentation
 811-------------
 812Written by Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>.