Documentation / git-svn.txton commit Merge branch 'ml/http' (c535d76)
   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
  84'fetch'::
  85        Fetch unfetched revisions from the Subversion remote we are
  86        tracking.  The name of the [svn-remote "..."] section in the
  87        .git/config file may be specified as an optional command-line
  88        argument.
  89
  90--localtime;;
  91        Store Git commit times in the local timezone instead of UTC.  This
  92        makes 'git log' (even without --date=local) show the same times
  93        that `svn log` would in the local timezone.
  94
  95--parent;;
  96        Fetch only from the SVN parent of the current HEAD.
  97+
  98This doesn't interfere with interoperating with the Subversion
  99repository you cloned from, but if you wish for your local Git
 100repository to be able to interoperate with someone else's local Git
 101repository, either don't use this option or you should both use it in
 102the same local timezone.
 103
 104--ignore-paths=<regex>;;
 105        This allows one to specify a Perl regular expression that will
 106        cause skipping of all matching paths from checkout from SVN.
 107        The '--ignore-paths' option should match for every 'fetch'
 108        (including automatic fetches due to 'clone', 'dcommit',
 109        'rebase', etc) on a given repository.
 110+
 111[verse]
 112config key: svn-remote.<name>.ignore-paths
 113+
 114If the ignore-paths config key is set and the command line option is
 115also given, both regular expressions will be used.
 116+
 117Examples:
 118+
 119--
 120Skip "doc*" directory for every fetch;;
 121+
 122------------------------------------------------------------------------
 123--ignore-paths="^doc"
 124------------------------------------------------------------------------
 125
 126Skip "branches" and "tags" of first level directories;;
 127+
 128------------------------------------------------------------------------
 129--ignore-paths="^[^/]+/(?:branches|tags)"
 130------------------------------------------------------------------------
 131--
 132
 133--use-log-author;;
 134        When retrieving svn commits into git (as part of fetch, rebase, or
 135        dcommit operations), look for the first From: or Signed-off-by: line
 136        in the log message and use that as the author string.
 137--add-author-from;;
 138        When committing to svn from git (as part of commit or dcommit
 139        operations), if the existing log message doesn't already have a
 140        From: or Signed-off-by: line, append a From: line based on the
 141        git commit's author string.  If you use this, then --use-log-author
 142        will retrieve a valid author string for all commits.
 143
 144'clone'::
 145        Runs 'init' and 'fetch'.  It will automatically create a
 146        directory based on the basename of the URL passed to it;
 147        or if a second argument is passed; it will create a directory
 148        and work within that.  It accepts all arguments that the
 149        'init' and 'fetch' commands accept; with the exception of
 150        '--fetch-all' and '--parent'.  After a repository is cloned,
 151        the 'fetch' command will be able to update revisions without
 152        affecting the working tree; and the 'rebase' command will be
 153        able to update the working tree with the latest changes.
 154
 155'rebase'::
 156        This fetches revisions from the SVN parent of the current HEAD
 157        and rebases the current (uncommitted to SVN) work against it.
 158+
 159This works similarly to `svn update` or 'git pull' except that
 160it preserves linear history with 'git rebase' instead of
 161'git merge' for ease of dcommitting with 'git svn'.
 162+
 163This accepts all options that 'git svn fetch' and 'git rebase'
 164accept.  However, '--fetch-all' only fetches from the current
 165[svn-remote], and not all [svn-remote] definitions.
 166+
 167Like 'git rebase'; this requires that the working tree be clean
 168and have no uncommitted changes.
 169
 170-l;;
 171--local;;
 172        Do not fetch remotely; only run 'git rebase' against the
 173        last fetched commit from the upstream SVN.
 174
 175'dcommit'::
 176        Commit each diff from a specified head directly to the SVN
 177        repository, and then rebase or reset (depending on whether or
 178        not there is a diff between SVN and head).  This will create
 179        a revision in SVN for each commit in git.
 180        It is recommended that you run 'git svn' fetch and rebase (not
 181        pull or merge) your commits against the latest changes in the
 182        SVN repository.
 183        An optional revision or branch argument may be specified, and
 184        causes 'git svn' to do all work on that revision/branch
 185        instead of HEAD.
 186        This is advantageous over 'set-tree' (below) because it produces
 187        cleaner, more linear history.
 188+
 189--no-rebase;;
 190        After committing, do not rebase or reset.
 191--commit-url <URL>;;
 192        Commit to this SVN URL (the full path).  This is intended to
 193        allow existing 'git svn' repositories created with one transport
 194        method (e.g. `svn://` or `http://` for anonymous read) to be
 195        reused if a user is later given access to an alternate transport
 196        method (e.g. `svn+ssh://` or `https://`) for commit.
 197+
 198[verse]
 199config key: svn-remote.<name>.commiturl
 200config key: svn.commiturl (overwrites all svn-remote.<name>.commiturl options)
 201+
 202Using this option for any other purpose (don't ask) is very strongly
 203discouraged.
 204
 205'branch'::
 206        Create a branch in the SVN repository.
 207
 208-m;;
 209--message;;
 210        Allows to specify the commit message.
 211
 212-t;;
 213--tag;;
 214        Create a tag by using the tags_subdir instead of the branches_subdir
 215        specified during git svn init.
 216
 217-d;;
 218--destination;;
 219        If more than one --branches (or --tags) option was given to the 'init'
 220        or 'clone' command, you must provide the location of the branch (or
 221        tag) you wish to create in the SVN repository.  The value of this
 222        option must match one of the paths specified by a --branches (or
 223        --tags) option.  You can see these paths with the commands
 224+
 225        git config --get-all svn-remote.<name>.branches
 226        git config --get-all svn-remote.<name>.tags
 227+
 228where <name> is the name of the SVN repository as specified by the -R option to
 229'init' (or "svn" by default).
 230
 231'tag'::
 232        Create a tag in the SVN repository. This is a shorthand for
 233        'branch -t'.
 234
 235'log'::
 236        This should make it easy to look up svn log messages when svn
 237        users refer to -r/--revision numbers.
 238+
 239The following features from `svn log' are supported:
 240+
 241--
 242-r <n>[:<n>];;
 243--revision=<n>[:<n>];;
 244        is supported, non-numeric args are not:
 245        HEAD, NEXT, BASE, PREV, etc ...
 246-v;;
 247--verbose;;
 248        it's not completely compatible with the --verbose
 249        output in svn log, but reasonably close.
 250--limit=<n>;;
 251        is NOT the same as --max-count, doesn't count
 252        merged/excluded commits
 253--incremental;;
 254        supported
 255--
 256+
 257New features:
 258+
 259--
 260--show-commit;;
 261        shows the git commit sha1, as well
 262--oneline;;
 263        our version of --pretty=oneline
 264--
 265+
 266NOTE: SVN itself only stores times in UTC and nothing else. The regular svn
 267client converts the UTC time to the local time (or based on the TZ=
 268environment). This command has the same behaviour.
 269+
 270Any other arguments are passed directly to 'git log'
 271
 272'blame'::
 273       Show what revision and author last modified each line of a file. The
 274       output of this mode is format-compatible with the output of
 275       `svn blame' by default. Like the SVN blame command,
 276       local uncommitted changes in the working copy are ignored;
 277       the version of the file in the HEAD revision is annotated. Unknown
 278       arguments are passed directly to 'git blame'.
 279+
 280--git-format;;
 281        Produce output in the same format as 'git blame', but with
 282        SVN revision numbers instead of git commit hashes. In this mode,
 283        changes that haven't been committed to SVN (including local
 284        working-copy edits) are shown as revision 0.
 285
 286'find-rev'::
 287        When given an SVN revision number of the form 'rN', returns the
 288        corresponding git commit hash (this can optionally be followed by a
 289        tree-ish to specify which branch should be searched).  When given a
 290        tree-ish, returns the corresponding SVN revision number.
 291
 292'set-tree'::
 293        You should consider using 'dcommit' instead of this command.
 294        Commit specified commit or tree objects to SVN.  This relies on
 295        your imported fetch data being up-to-date.  This makes
 296        absolutely no attempts to do patching when committing to SVN, it
 297        simply overwrites files with those specified in the tree or
 298        commit.  All merging is assumed to have taken place
 299        independently of 'git svn' functions.
 300
 301'create-ignore'::
 302        Recursively finds the svn:ignore property on directories and
 303        creates matching .gitignore files. The resulting files are staged to
 304        be committed, but are not committed. Use -r/--revision to refer to a
 305        specific revision.
 306
 307'show-ignore'::
 308        Recursively finds and lists the svn:ignore property on
 309        directories.  The output is suitable for appending to
 310        the $GIT_DIR/info/exclude file.
 311
 312'commit-diff'::
 313        Commits the diff of two tree-ish arguments from the
 314        command-line.  This command does not rely on being inside an `git svn
 315        init`-ed repository.  This command takes three arguments, (a) the
 316        original tree to diff against, (b) the new tree result, (c) the
 317        URL of the target Subversion repository.  The final argument
 318        (URL) may be omitted if you are working from a 'git svn'-aware
 319        repository (that has been `init`-ed with 'git svn').
 320        The -r<revision> option is required for this.
 321
 322'info'::
 323        Shows information about a file or directory similar to what
 324        `svn info' provides.  Does not currently support a -r/--revision
 325        argument.  Use the --url option to output only the value of the
 326        'URL:' field.
 327
 328'proplist'::
 329        Lists the properties stored in the Subversion repository about a
 330        given file or directory.  Use -r/--revision to refer to a specific
 331        Subversion revision.
 332
 333'propget'::
 334        Gets the Subversion property given as the first argument, for a
 335        file.  A specific revision can be specified with -r/--revision.
 336
 337'show-externals'::
 338        Shows the Subversion externals.  Use -r/--revision to specify a
 339        specific revision.
 340
 341'reset'::
 342        Undoes the effects of 'fetch' back to the specified revision.
 343        This allows you to re-'fetch' an SVN revision.  Normally the
 344        contents of an SVN revision should never change and 'reset'
 345        should not be necessary.  However, if SVN permissions change,
 346        or if you alter your --ignore-paths option, a 'fetch' may fail
 347        with "not found in commit" (file not previously visible) or
 348        "checksum mismatch" (missed a modification).  If the problem
 349        file cannot be ignored forever (with --ignore-paths) the only
 350        way to repair the repo is to use 'reset'.
 351+
 352Only the rev_map and refs/remotes/git-svn are changed.  Follow 'reset'
 353with a 'fetch' and then 'git reset' or 'git rebase' to move local
 354branches onto the new tree.
 355
 356-r <n>;;
 357--revision=<n>;;
 358        Specify the most recent revision to keep.  All later revisions
 359        are discarded.
 360-p;;
 361--parent;;
 362        Discard the specified revision as well, keeping the nearest
 363        parent instead.
 364Example:;;
 365Assume you have local changes in "master", but you need to refetch "r2".
 366+
 367------------
 368    r1---r2---r3 remotes/git-svn
 369                \
 370                 A---B master
 371------------
 372+
 373Fix the ignore-paths or SVN permissions problem that caused "r2" to
 374be incomplete in the first place.  Then:
 375+
 376[verse]
 377git svn reset -r2 -p
 378git svn fetch
 379+
 380------------
 381    r1---r2'--r3' remotes/git-svn
 382      \
 383       r2---r3---A---B master
 384------------
 385+
 386Then fixup "master" with 'git rebase'.
 387Do NOT use 'git merge' or your history will not be compatible with a
 388future 'dcommit'!
 389+
 390[verse]
 391git rebase --onto remotes/git-svn A^ master
 392+
 393------------
 394    r1---r2'--r3' remotes/git-svn
 395                \
 396                 A'--B' master
 397------------
 398
 399OPTIONS
 400-------
 401
 402--shared[={false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody}]::
 403--template=<template_directory>::
 404        Only used with the 'init' command.
 405        These are passed directly to 'git init'.
 406
 407-r <ARG>::
 408--revision <ARG>::
 409           Used with the 'fetch' command.
 410+
 411This allows revision ranges for partial/cauterized history
 412to be supported.  $NUMBER, $NUMBER1:$NUMBER2 (numeric ranges),
 413$NUMBER:HEAD, and BASE:$NUMBER are all supported.
 414+
 415This can allow you to make partial mirrors when running fetch;
 416but is generally not recommended because history will be skipped
 417and lost.
 418
 419-::
 420--stdin::
 421        Only used with the 'set-tree' command.
 422+
 423Read a list of commits from stdin and commit them in reverse
 424order.  Only the leading sha1 is read from each line, so
 425'git rev-list --pretty=oneline' output can be used.
 426
 427--rmdir::
 428        Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
 429+
 430Remove directories from the SVN tree if there are no files left
 431behind.  SVN can version empty directories, and they are not
 432removed by default if there are no files left in them.  git
 433cannot version empty directories.  Enabling this flag will make
 434the commit to SVN act like git.
 435+
 436[verse]
 437config key: svn.rmdir
 438
 439-e::
 440--edit::
 441        Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
 442+
 443Edit the commit message before committing to SVN.  This is off by
 444default for objects that are commits, and forced on when committing
 445tree objects.
 446+
 447[verse]
 448config key: svn.edit
 449
 450-l<num>::
 451--find-copies-harder::
 452        Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
 453+
 454They are both passed directly to 'git diff-tree'; see
 455linkgit:git-diff-tree[1] for more information.
 456+
 457[verse]
 458config key: svn.l
 459config key: svn.findcopiesharder
 460
 461-A<filename>::
 462--authors-file=<filename>::
 463        Syntax is compatible with the file used by 'git cvsimport':
 464+
 465------------------------------------------------------------------------
 466        loginname = Joe User <user@example.com>
 467------------------------------------------------------------------------
 468+
 469If this option is specified and 'git svn' encounters an SVN
 470committer name that does not exist in the authors-file, 'git svn'
 471will abort operation. The user will then have to add the
 472appropriate entry.  Re-running the previous 'git svn' command
 473after the authors-file is modified should continue operation.
 474+
 475[verse]
 476config key: svn.authorsfile
 477
 478--authors-prog=<filename>::
 479        If this option is specified, for each SVN committer name that
 480        does not exist in the authors file, the given file is executed
 481        with the committer name as the first argument.  The program is
 482        expected to return a single line of the form "Name <email>",
 483        which will be treated as if included in the authors file.
 484
 485-q::
 486--quiet::
 487        Make 'git svn' less verbose. Specify a second time to make it
 488        even less verbose.
 489
 490--repack[=<n>]::
 491--repack-flags=<flags>::
 492        These should help keep disk usage sane for large fetches with
 493        many revisions.
 494+
 495--repack takes an optional argument for the number of revisions
 496to fetch before repacking.  This defaults to repacking every
 4971000 commits fetched if no argument is specified.
 498+
 499--repack-flags are passed directly to 'git repack'.
 500+
 501[verse]
 502config key: svn.repack
 503config key: svn.repackflags
 504
 505-m::
 506--merge::
 507-s<strategy>::
 508--strategy=<strategy>::
 509        These are only used with the 'dcommit' and 'rebase' commands.
 510+
 511Passed directly to 'git rebase' when using 'dcommit' if a
 512'git reset' cannot be used (see 'dcommit').
 513
 514-n::
 515--dry-run::
 516        This can be used with the 'dcommit', 'rebase', 'branch' and
 517        'tag' commands.
 518+
 519For 'dcommit', print out the series of git arguments that would show
 520which diffs would be committed to SVN.
 521+
 522For 'rebase', display the local branch associated with the upstream svn
 523repository associated with the current branch and the URL of svn
 524repository that will be fetched from.
 525+
 526For 'branch' and 'tag', display the urls that will be used for copying when
 527creating the branch or tag.
 528
 529
 530ADVANCED OPTIONS
 531----------------
 532
 533-i<GIT_SVN_ID>::
 534--id <GIT_SVN_ID>::
 535        This sets GIT_SVN_ID (instead of using the environment).  This
 536        allows the user to override the default refname to fetch from
 537        when tracking a single URL.  The 'log' and 'dcommit' commands
 538        no longer require this switch as an argument.
 539
 540-R<remote name>::
 541--svn-remote <remote name>::
 542        Specify the [svn-remote "<remote name>"] section to use,
 543        this allows SVN multiple repositories to be tracked.
 544        Default: "svn"
 545
 546--follow-parent::
 547        This is especially helpful when we're tracking a directory
 548        that has been moved around within the repository, or if we
 549        started tracking a branch and never tracked the trunk it was
 550        descended from. This feature is enabled by default, use
 551        --no-follow-parent to disable it.
 552+
 553[verse]
 554config key: svn.followparent
 555
 556CONFIG FILE-ONLY OPTIONS
 557------------------------
 558
 559svn.noMetadata::
 560svn-remote.<name>.noMetadata::
 561        This gets rid of the 'git-svn-id:' lines at the end of every commit.
 562+
 563If you lose your .git/svn/git-svn/.rev_db file, 'git svn' will not
 564be able to rebuild it and you won't be able to fetch again,
 565either.  This is fine for one-shot imports.
 566+
 567The 'git svn log' command will not work on repositories using
 568this, either.  Using this conflicts with the 'useSvmProps'
 569option for (hopefully) obvious reasons.
 570
 571svn.useSvmProps::
 572svn-remote.<name>.useSvmProps::
 573        This allows 'git svn' to re-map repository URLs and UUIDs from
 574        mirrors created using SVN::Mirror (or svk) for metadata.
 575+
 576If an SVN revision has a property, "svm:headrev", it is likely
 577that the revision was created by SVN::Mirror (also used by SVK).
 578The property contains a repository UUID and a revision.  We want
 579to make it look like we are mirroring the original URL, so
 580introduce a helper function that returns the original identity
 581URL and UUID, and use it when generating metadata in commit
 582messages.
 583
 584svn.useSvnsyncProps::
 585svn-remote.<name>.useSvnsyncprops::
 586        Similar to the useSvmProps option; this is for users
 587        of the svnsync(1) command distributed with SVN 1.4.x and
 588        later.
 589
 590svn-remote.<name>.rewriteRoot::
 591        This allows users to create repositories from alternate
 592        URLs.  For example, an administrator could run 'git svn' on the
 593        server locally (accessing via file://) but wish to distribute
 594        the repository with a public http:// or svn:// URL in the
 595        metadata so users of it will see the public URL.
 596
 597svn.brokenSymlinkWorkaround::
 598        This disables potentially expensive checks to workaround
 599        broken symlinks checked into SVN by broken clients.  Set this
 600        option to "false" if you track a SVN repository with many
 601        empty blobs that are not symlinks.  This option may be changed
 602        while 'git svn' is running and take effect on the next
 603        revision fetched.  If unset, 'git svn' assumes this option to
 604        be "true".
 605
 606Since the noMetadata, rewriteRoot, useSvnsyncProps and useSvmProps
 607options all affect the metadata generated and used by 'git svn'; they
 608*must* be set in the configuration file before any history is imported
 609and these settings should never be changed once they are set.
 610
 611Additionally, only one of these four options can be used per-svn-remote
 612section because they affect the 'git-svn-id:' metadata line.
 613
 614
 615BASIC EXAMPLES
 616--------------
 617
 618Tracking and contributing to the trunk of a Subversion-managed project:
 619
 620------------------------------------------------------------------------
 621# Clone a repo (like git clone):
 622        git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project/trunk
 623# Enter the newly cloned directory:
 624        cd trunk
 625# You should be on master branch, double-check with 'git branch'
 626        git branch
 627# Do some work and commit locally to git:
 628        git commit ...
 629# Something is committed to SVN, rebase your local changes against the
 630# latest changes in SVN:
 631        git svn rebase
 632# Now commit your changes (that were committed previously using git) to SVN,
 633# as well as automatically updating your working HEAD:
 634        git svn dcommit
 635# Append svn:ignore settings to the default git exclude file:
 636        git svn show-ignore >> .git/info/exclude
 637------------------------------------------------------------------------
 638
 639Tracking and contributing to an entire Subversion-managed project
 640(complete with a trunk, tags and branches):
 641
 642------------------------------------------------------------------------
 643# Clone a repo (like git clone):
 644        git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project -T trunk -b branches -t tags
 645# View all branches and tags you have cloned:
 646        git branch -r
 647# Create a new branch in SVN
 648    git svn branch waldo
 649# Reset your master to trunk (or any other branch, replacing 'trunk'
 650# with the appropriate name):
 651        git reset --hard remotes/trunk
 652# You may only dcommit to one branch/tag/trunk at a time.  The usage
 653# of dcommit/rebase/show-ignore should be the same as above.
 654------------------------------------------------------------------------
 655
 656The initial 'git svn clone' can be quite time-consuming
 657(especially for large Subversion repositories). If multiple
 658people (or one person with multiple machines) want to use
 659'git svn' to interact with the same Subversion repository, you can
 660do the initial 'git svn clone' to a repository on a server and
 661have each person clone that repository with 'git clone':
 662
 663------------------------------------------------------------------------
 664# Do the initial import on a server
 665        ssh server "cd /pub && git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project
 666# Clone locally - make sure the refs/remotes/ space matches the server
 667        mkdir project
 668        cd project
 669        git init
 670        git remote add origin server:/pub/project
 671        git config --add remote.origin.fetch '+refs/remotes/*:refs/remotes/*'
 672        git fetch
 673# Create a local branch from one of the branches just fetched
 674        git checkout -b master FETCH_HEAD
 675# Initialize 'git svn' locally (be sure to use the same URL and -T/-b/-t options as were used on server)
 676        git svn init http://svn.example.com/project
 677# Pull the latest changes from Subversion
 678        git svn rebase
 679------------------------------------------------------------------------
 680
 681REBASE VS. PULL/MERGE
 682---------------------
 683
 684Originally, 'git svn' recommended that the 'remotes/git-svn' branch be
 685pulled or merged from.  This is because the author favored
 686`git svn set-tree B` to commit a single head rather than the
 687`git svn set-tree A..B` notation to commit multiple commits.
 688
 689If you use `git svn set-tree A..B` to commit several diffs and you do
 690not have the latest remotes/git-svn merged into my-branch, you should
 691use `git svn rebase` to update your work branch instead of `git pull` or
 692`git merge`.  `pull`/`merge` can cause non-linear history to be flattened
 693when committing into SVN, which can lead to merge commits reversing
 694previous commits in SVN.
 695
 696DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
 697-----------------
 698Merge tracking in Subversion is lacking and doing branched development
 699with Subversion can be cumbersome as a result.  While 'git svn' can track
 700copy history (including branches and tags) for repositories adopting a
 701standard layout, it cannot yet represent merge history that happened
 702inside git back upstream to SVN users.  Therefore it is advised that
 703users keep history as linear as possible inside git to ease
 704compatibility with SVN (see the CAVEATS section below).
 705
 706CAVEATS
 707-------
 708
 709For the sake of simplicity and interoperating with a less-capable system
 710(SVN), it is recommended that all 'git svn' users clone, fetch and dcommit
 711directly from the SVN server, and avoid all 'git clone'/'pull'/'merge'/'push'
 712operations between git repositories and branches.  The recommended
 713method of exchanging code between git branches and users is
 714'git format-patch' and 'git am', or just 'dcommit'ing to the SVN repository.
 715
 716Running 'git merge' or 'git pull' is NOT recommended on a branch you
 717plan to 'dcommit' from.  Subversion does not represent merges in any
 718reasonable or useful fashion; so users using Subversion cannot see any
 719merges you've made.  Furthermore, if you merge or pull from a git branch
 720that is a mirror of an SVN branch, 'dcommit' may commit to the wrong
 721branch.
 722
 723'git clone' does not clone branches under the refs/remotes/ hierarchy or
 724any 'git svn' metadata, or config.  So repositories created and managed with
 725using 'git svn' should use 'rsync' for cloning, if cloning is to be done
 726at all.
 727
 728Since 'dcommit' uses rebase internally, any git branches you 'git push' to
 729before 'dcommit' on will require forcing an overwrite of the existing ref
 730on the remote repository.  This is generally considered bad practice,
 731see the linkgit:git-push[1] documentation for details.
 732
 733Do not use the --amend option of linkgit:git-commit[1] on a change you've
 734already dcommitted.  It is considered bad practice to --amend commits
 735you've already pushed to a remote repository for other users, and
 736dcommit with SVN is analogous to that.
 737
 738When using multiple --branches or --tags, 'git svn' does not automatically
 739handle name collisions (for example, if two branches from different paths have
 740the same name, or if a branch and a tag have the same name).  In these cases,
 741use 'init' to set up your git repository then, before your first 'fetch', edit
 742the .git/config file so that the branches and tags are associated with
 743different name spaces.  For example:
 744
 745        branches = stable/*:refs/remotes/svn/stable/*
 746        branches = debug/*:refs/remotes/svn/debug/*
 747
 748BUGS
 749----
 750
 751We ignore all SVN properties except svn:executable.  Any unhandled
 752properties are logged to $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>/unhandled.log
 753
 754Renamed and copied directories are not detected by git and hence not
 755tracked when committing to SVN.  I do not plan on adding support for
 756this as it's quite difficult and time-consuming to get working for all
 757the possible corner cases (git doesn't do it, either).  Committing
 758renamed and copied files are fully supported if they're similar enough
 759for git to detect them.
 760
 761CONFIGURATION
 762-------------
 763
 764'git svn' stores [svn-remote] configuration information in the
 765repository .git/config file.  It is similar the core git
 766[remote] sections except 'fetch' keys do not accept glob
 767arguments; but they are instead handled by the 'branches'
 768and 'tags' keys.  Since some SVN repositories are oddly
 769configured with multiple projects glob expansions such those
 770listed below are allowed:
 771
 772------------------------------------------------------------------------
 773[svn-remote "project-a"]
 774        url = http://server.org/svn
 775        fetch = trunk/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/trunk
 776        branches = branches/*/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/branches/*
 777        tags = tags/*/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/tags/*
 778------------------------------------------------------------------------
 779
 780Keep in mind that the '\*' (asterisk) wildcard of the local ref
 781(right of the ':') *must* be the farthest right path component;
 782however the remote wildcard may be anywhere as long as it's an
 783independent path component (surrounded by '/' or EOL).   This
 784type of configuration is not automatically created by 'init' and
 785should be manually entered with a text-editor or using 'git config'.
 786
 787SEE ALSO
 788--------
 789linkgit:git-rebase[1]
 790
 791Author
 792------
 793Written by Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>.
 794
 795Documentation
 796-------------
 797Written by Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>.