NAME
----
-git-svn - Bidirectional operation between a single Subversion branch and git
+git-svn - Bidirectional operation between a Subversion repository and git
SYNOPSIS
--------
-'git-svn' <command> [options] [arguments]
+'git svn' <command> [options] [arguments]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-git-svn is a simple conduit for changesets between Subversion and git.
-It is not to be confused with linkgit:git-svnimport[1], which is
-read-only.
+'git svn' is a simple conduit for changesets between Subversion and git.
+It provides a bidirectional flow of changes between a Subversion and a git
+repository.
-git-svn was originally designed for an individual developer who wants a
-bidirectional flow of changesets between a single branch in Subversion
-and an arbitrary number of branches in git. Since its inception,
-git-svn has gained the ability to track multiple branches in a manner
-similar to git-svnimport.
+'git svn' can track a standard Subversion repository,
+following the common "trunk/branches/tags" layout, with the --stdlayout option.
+It can also follow branches and tags in any layout with the -T/-t/-b options
+(see options to 'init' below, and also the 'clone' command).
-git-svn is especially useful when it comes to tracking repositories
-not organized in the way Subversion developers recommend (trunk,
-branches, tags directories).
+Once tracking a Subversion repository (with any of the above methods), the git
+repository can be updated from Subversion by the 'fetch' command and
+Subversion updated from git by the 'dcommit' command.
COMMANDS
--------
---
'init'::
Initializes an empty git repository with additional
- metadata directories for git-svn. The Subversion URL
+ metadata directories for 'git svn'. The Subversion URL
may be specified as a command-line argument, or as full
URL arguments to -T/-t/-b. Optionally, the target
directory to operate on can be specified as a second
--stdlayout;;
These are optional command-line options for init. Each of
these flags can point to a relative repository path
- (--tags=project/tags') or a full url
- (--tags=https://foo.org/project/tags). The option --stdlayout is
+ (--tags=project/tags) or a full url
+ (--tags=https://foo.org/project/tags).
+ You can specify more than one --tags and/or --branches options, in case
+ your Subversion repository places tags or branches under multiple paths.
+ The option --stdlayout is
a shorthand way of setting trunk,tags,branches as the relative paths,
which is the Subversion default. If any of the other options are given
as well, they take precedence.
Set the 'useSvnsyncProps' option in the [svn-remote] config.
--rewrite-root=<URL>;;
Set the 'rewriteRoot' option in the [svn-remote] config.
---use-log-author;;
- When retrieving svn commits into git (as part of fetch, rebase, or
- dcommit operations), look for the first From: or Signed-off-by: line
- in the log message and use that as the author string.
---add-author-from;;
- When committing to svn from git (as part of commit or dcommit
- operations), if the existing log message doesn't already have a
- From: or Signed-off-by: line, append a From: line based on the
- git commit's author string. If you use this, then --use-log-author
- will retrieve a valid author string for all commits.
--username=<USER>;;
For transports that SVN handles authentication for (http,
https, and plain svn), specify the username. For other
specified, the prefix must include a trailing slash.
Setting a prefix is useful if you wish to track multiple
projects that share a common repository.
+--ignore-paths=<regex>;;
+ When passed to 'init' or 'clone' this regular expression will
+ be preserved as a config key. See 'fetch' for a description
+ of '--ignore-paths'.
+--no-minimize-url;;
+ When tracking multiple directories (using --stdlayout,
+ --branches, or --tags options), git svn will attempt to connect
+ to the root (or highest allowed level) of the Subversion
+ repository. This default allows better tracking of history if
+ entire projects are moved within a repository, but may cause
+ issues on repositories where read access restrictions are in
+ place. Passing '--no-minimize-url' will allow git svn to
+ accept URLs as-is without attempting to connect to a higher
+ level directory. This option is off by default when only
+ one URL/branch is tracked (it would do little good).
'fetch'::
Fetch unfetched revisions from the Subversion remote we are
.git/config file may be specified as an optional command-line
argument.
+--localtime;;
+ Store Git commit times in the local timezone instead of UTC. This
+ makes 'git log' (even without --date=local) show the same times
+ that `svn log` would in the local timezone.
++
+This doesn't interfere with interoperating with the Subversion
+repository you cloned from, but if you wish for your local Git
+repository to be able to interoperate with someone else's local Git
+repository, either don't use this option or you should both use it in
+the same local timezone.
+
+--parent;;
+ Fetch only from the SVN parent of the current HEAD.
+
+--ignore-paths=<regex>;;
+ This allows one to specify a Perl regular expression that will
+ cause skipping of all matching paths from checkout from SVN.
+ The '--ignore-paths' option should match for every 'fetch'
+ (including automatic fetches due to 'clone', 'dcommit',
+ 'rebase', etc) on a given repository.
++
+[verse]
+config key: svn-remote.<name>.ignore-paths
++
+If the ignore-paths config key is set and the command line option is
+also given, both regular expressions will be used.
++
+Examples:
++
+--
+Skip "doc*" directory for every fetch;;
++
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--ignore-paths="^doc"
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Skip "branches" and "tags" of first level directories;;
++
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--ignore-paths="^[^/]+/(?:branches|tags)"
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--
+
+--use-log-author;;
+ When retrieving svn commits into git (as part of fetch, rebase, or
+ dcommit operations), look for the first From: or Signed-off-by: line
+ in the log message and use that as the author string.
+--add-author-from;;
+ When committing to svn from git (as part of commit or dcommit
+ operations), if the existing log message doesn't already have a
+ From: or Signed-off-by: line, append a From: line based on the
+ git commit's author string. If you use this, then --use-log-author
+ will retrieve a valid author string for all commits.
+
'clone'::
Runs 'init' and 'fetch'. It will automatically create a
directory based on the basename of the URL passed to it;
or if a second argument is passed; it will create a directory
and work within that. It accepts all arguments that the
'init' and 'fetch' commands accept; with the exception of
- '--fetch-all'. After a repository is cloned, the 'fetch'
- command will be able to update revisions without affecting
- the working tree; and the 'rebase' command will be able
- to update the working tree with the latest changes.
+ '--fetch-all' and '--parent'. After a repository is cloned,
+ the 'fetch' command will be able to update revisions without
+ affecting the working tree; and the 'rebase' command will be
+ able to update the working tree with the latest changes.
'rebase'::
This fetches revisions from the SVN parent of the current HEAD
and rebases the current (uncommitted to SVN) work against it.
-
-This works similarly to 'svn update' or 'git-pull' except that
-it preserves linear history with 'git-rebase' instead of
-'git-merge' for ease of dcommiting with git-svn.
-
-This accepts all options that 'git-svn fetch' and 'git-rebase'
-accepts. However '--fetch-all' only fetches from the current
++
+This works similarly to `svn update` or 'git pull' except that
+it preserves linear history with 'git rebase' instead of
+'git merge' for ease of dcommitting with 'git svn'.
++
+This accepts all options that 'git svn fetch' and 'git rebase'
+accept. However, '--fetch-all' only fetches from the current
[svn-remote], and not all [svn-remote] definitions.
-
-Like 'git-rebase'; this requires that the working tree be clean
++
+Like 'git rebase'; this requires that the working tree be clean
and have no uncommitted changes.
-l;;
--local;;
- Do not fetch remotely; only run 'git-rebase' against the
+ Do not fetch remotely; only run 'git rebase' against the
last fetched commit from the upstream SVN.
'dcommit'::
repository, and then rebase or reset (depending on whether or
not there is a diff between SVN and head). This will create
a revision in SVN for each commit in git.
- It is recommended that you run git-svn fetch and rebase (not
+ It is recommended that you run 'git svn' fetch and rebase (not
pull or merge) your commits against the latest changes in the
SVN repository.
- An optional command-line argument may be specified as an
- alternative to HEAD.
+ An optional revision or branch argument may be specified, and
+ causes 'git svn' to do all work on that revision/branch
+ instead of HEAD.
This is advantageous over 'set-tree' (below) because it produces
cleaner, more linear history.
+
--no-rebase;;
After committing, do not rebase or reset.
---
+--commit-url <URL>;;
+ Commit to this SVN URL (the full path). This is intended to
+ allow existing 'git svn' repositories created with one transport
+ method (e.g. `svn://` or `http://` for anonymous read) to be
+ reused if a user is later given access to an alternate transport
+ method (e.g. `svn+ssh://` or `https://`) for commit.
++
+[verse]
+config key: svn-remote.<name>.commiturl
+config key: svn.commiturl (overwrites all svn-remote.<name>.commiturl options)
++
+Using this option for any other purpose (don't ask) is very strongly
+discouraged.
+
+'branch'::
+ Create a branch in the SVN repository.
+
+-m;;
+--message;;
+ Allows to specify the commit message.
+
+-t;;
+--tag;;
+ Create a tag by using the tags_subdir instead of the branches_subdir
+ specified during git svn init.
+
+-d;;
+--destination;;
+ If more than one --branches (or --tags) option was given to the 'init'
+ or 'clone' command, you must provide the location of the branch (or
+ tag) you wish to create in the SVN repository. The value of this
+ option must match one of the paths specified by a --branches (or
+ --tags) option. You can see these paths with the commands
++
+ git config --get-all svn-remote.<name>.branches
+ git config --get-all svn-remote.<name>.tags
++
+where <name> is the name of the SVN repository as specified by the -R option to
+'init' (or "svn" by default).
+
+'tag'::
+ Create a tag in the SVN repository. This is a shorthand for
+ 'branch -t'.
'log'::
This should make it easy to look up svn log messages when svn
The following features from `svn log' are supported:
+
--
+-r <n>[:<n>];;
--revision=<n>[:<n>];;
is supported, non-numeric args are not:
HEAD, NEXT, BASE, PREV, etc ...
--v/--verbose;;
+-v;;
+--verbose;;
it's not completely compatible with the --verbose
output in svn log, but reasonably close.
--limit=<n>;;
client converts the UTC time to the local time (or based on the TZ=
environment). This command has the same behaviour.
+
-Any other arguments are passed directly to `git log'
+Any other arguments are passed directly to 'git log'
'blame'::
Show what revision and author last modified each line of a file. The
`svn blame' by default. Like the SVN blame command,
local uncommitted changes in the working copy are ignored;
the version of the file in the HEAD revision is annotated. Unknown
- arguments are passed directly to git-blame.
+ arguments are passed directly to 'git blame'.
+
--git-format;;
- Produce output in the same format as `git blame', but with
+ Produce output in the same format as 'git blame', but with
SVN revision numbers instead of git commit hashes. In this mode,
changes that haven't been committed to SVN (including local
working-copy edits) are shown as revision 0.
---
'find-rev'::
When given an SVN revision number of the form 'rN', returns the
corresponding git commit hash (this can optionally be followed by a
absolutely no attempts to do patching when committing to SVN, it
simply overwrites files with those specified in the tree or
commit. All merging is assumed to have taken place
- independently of git-svn functions.
+ independently of 'git svn' functions.
'create-ignore'::
Recursively finds the svn:ignore property on directories and
creates matching .gitignore files. The resulting files are staged to
be committed, but are not committed. Use -r/--revision to refer to a
- specfic revision.
+ specific revision.
'show-ignore'::
Recursively finds and lists the svn:ignore property on
directories. The output is suitable for appending to
the $GIT_DIR/info/exclude file.
+'mkdirs'::
+ Attempts to recreate empty directories that core git cannot track
+ based on information in $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>/unhandled.log files.
+ Empty directories are automatically recreated when using
+ "git svn clone" and "git svn rebase", so "mkdirs" is intended
+ for use after commands like "git checkout" or "git reset".
+
'commit-diff'::
Commits the diff of two tree-ish arguments from the
- command-line. This command is intended for interoperability with
- git-svnimport and does not rely on being inside an git-svn
- init-ed repository. This command takes three arguments, (a) the
+ command-line. This command does not rely on being inside an `git svn
+ init`-ed repository. This command takes three arguments, (a) the
original tree to diff against, (b) the new tree result, (c) the
URL of the target Subversion repository. The final argument
- (URL) may be omitted if you are working from a git-svn-aware
- repository (that has been init-ed with git-svn).
+ (URL) may be omitted if you are working from a 'git svn'-aware
+ repository (that has been `init`-ed with 'git svn').
The -r<revision> option is required for this.
'info'::
Shows the Subversion externals. Use -r/--revision to specify a
specific revision.
---
+'gc'::
+ Compress $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>/unhandled.log files in .git/svn
+ and remove $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>index files in .git/svn.
+
+'reset'::
+ Undoes the effects of 'fetch' back to the specified revision.
+ This allows you to re-'fetch' an SVN revision. Normally the
+ contents of an SVN revision should never change and 'reset'
+ should not be necessary. However, if SVN permissions change,
+ or if you alter your --ignore-paths option, a 'fetch' may fail
+ with "not found in commit" (file not previously visible) or
+ "checksum mismatch" (missed a modification). If the problem
+ file cannot be ignored forever (with --ignore-paths) the only
+ way to repair the repo is to use 'reset'.
++
+Only the rev_map and refs/remotes/git-svn are changed. Follow 'reset'
+with a 'fetch' and then 'git reset' or 'git rebase' to move local
+branches onto the new tree.
+
+-r <n>;;
+--revision=<n>;;
+ Specify the most recent revision to keep. All later revisions
+ are discarded.
+-p;;
+--parent;;
+ Discard the specified revision as well, keeping the nearest
+ parent instead.
+Example:;;
+Assume you have local changes in "master", but you need to refetch "r2".
++
+------------
+ r1---r2---r3 remotes/git-svn
+ \
+ A---B master
+------------
++
+Fix the ignore-paths or SVN permissions problem that caused "r2" to
+be incomplete in the first place. Then:
++
+[verse]
+git svn reset -r2 -p
+git svn fetch
++
+------------
+ r1---r2'--r3' remotes/git-svn
+ \
+ r2---r3---A---B master
+------------
++
+Then fixup "master" with 'git rebase'.
+Do NOT use 'git merge' or your history will not be compatible with a
+future 'dcommit'!
++
+[verse]
+git rebase --onto remotes/git-svn A^ master
++
+------------
+ r1---r2'--r3' remotes/git-svn
+ \
+ A'--B' master
+------------
OPTIONS
-------
---
--shared[={false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody}]::
--template=<template_directory>::
Only used with the 'init' command.
- These are passed directly to linkgit:git-init[1].
+ These are passed directly to 'git init'.
-r <ARG>::
--revision <ARG>::
-
-Used with the 'fetch' command.
-
+ Used with the 'fetch' command.
++
This allows revision ranges for partial/cauterized history
to be supported. $NUMBER, $NUMBER1:$NUMBER2 (numeric ranges),
$NUMBER:HEAD, and BASE:$NUMBER are all supported.
-
++
This can allow you to make partial mirrors when running fetch;
but is generally not recommended because history will be skipped
and lost.
-::
--stdin::
-
-Only used with the 'set-tree' command.
-
+ Only used with the 'set-tree' command.
++
Read a list of commits from stdin and commit them in reverse
order. Only the leading sha1 is read from each line, so
-git-rev-list --pretty=oneline output can be used.
+'git rev-list --pretty=oneline' output can be used.
--rmdir::
-
-Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
-
+ Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
++
Remove directories from the SVN tree if there are no files left
behind. SVN can version empty directories, and they are not
removed by default if there are no files left in them. git
cannot version empty directories. Enabling this flag will make
the commit to SVN act like git.
-
++
+[verse]
config key: svn.rmdir
-e::
--edit::
-
-Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
-
+ Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
++
Edit the commit message before committing to SVN. This is off by
default for objects that are commits, and forced on when committing
tree objects.
-
++
+[verse]
config key: svn.edit
-l<num>::
--find-copies-harder::
-
-Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
-
-They are both passed directly to git-diff-tree see
+ Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
++
+They are both passed directly to 'git diff-tree'; see
linkgit:git-diff-tree[1] for more information.
-
++
[verse]
config key: svn.l
config key: svn.findcopiesharder
-A<filename>::
--authors-file=<filename>::
-
-Syntax is compatible with the files used by git-svnimport and
-git-cvsimport:
-
+ Syntax is compatible with the file used by 'git cvsimport':
++
------------------------------------------------------------------------
loginname = Joe User <user@example.com>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-If this option is specified and git-svn encounters an SVN
-committer name that does not exist in the authors-file, git-svn
++
+If this option is specified and 'git svn' encounters an SVN
+committer name that does not exist in the authors-file, 'git svn'
will abort operation. The user will then have to add the
-appropriate entry. Re-running the previous git-svn command
+appropriate entry. Re-running the previous 'git svn' command
after the authors-file is modified should continue operation.
-
++
+[verse]
config key: svn.authorsfile
+--authors-prog=<filename>::
+ If this option is specified, for each SVN committer name that
+ does not exist in the authors file, the given file is executed
+ with the committer name as the first argument. The program is
+ expected to return a single line of the form "Name <email>",
+ which will be treated as if included in the authors file.
+
-q::
--quiet::
- Make git-svn less verbose.
+ Make 'git svn' less verbose. Specify a second time to make it
+ even less verbose.
--repack[=<n>]::
--repack-flags=<flags>::
-
-These should help keep disk usage sane for large fetches
-with many revisions.
-
+ These should help keep disk usage sane for large fetches with
+ many revisions.
++
--repack takes an optional argument for the number of revisions
to fetch before repacking. This defaults to repacking every
1000 commits fetched if no argument is specified.
-
---repack-flags are passed directly to linkgit:git-repack[1].
-
++
+--repack-flags are passed directly to 'git repack'.
++
[verse]
config key: svn.repack
config key: svn.repackflags
--merge::
-s<strategy>::
--strategy=<strategy>::
-
-These are only used with the 'dcommit' and 'rebase' commands.
-
-Passed directly to git-rebase when using 'dcommit' if a
-'git-reset' cannot be used (see dcommit).
+ These are only used with the 'dcommit' and 'rebase' commands.
++
+Passed directly to 'git rebase' when using 'dcommit' if a
+'git reset' cannot be used (see 'dcommit').
-n::
--dry-run::
-
-This can be used with the 'dcommit' and 'rebase' commands.
-
+ This can be used with the 'dcommit', 'rebase', 'branch' and
+ 'tag' commands.
++
For 'dcommit', print out the series of git arguments that would show
which diffs would be committed to SVN.
-
++
For 'rebase', display the local branch associated with the upstream svn
repository associated with the current branch and the URL of svn
repository that will be fetched from.
++
+For 'branch' and 'tag', display the urls that will be used for copying when
+creating the branch or tag.
---
ADVANCED OPTIONS
----------------
---
-i<GIT_SVN_ID>::
--id <GIT_SVN_ID>::
-
-This sets GIT_SVN_ID (instead of using the environment). This
-allows the user to override the default refname to fetch from
-when tracking a single URL. The 'log' and 'dcommit' commands
-no longer require this switch as an argument.
+ This sets GIT_SVN_ID (instead of using the environment). This
+ allows the user to override the default refname to fetch from
+ when tracking a single URL. The 'log' and 'dcommit' commands
+ no longer require this switch as an argument.
-R<remote name>::
--svn-remote <remote name>::
started tracking a branch and never tracked the trunk it was
descended from. This feature is enabled by default, use
--no-follow-parent to disable it.
-
++
+[verse]
config key: svn.followparent
---
CONFIG FILE-ONLY OPTIONS
------------------------
---
svn.noMetadata::
svn-remote.<name>.noMetadata::
-
-This gets rid of the git-svn-id: lines at the end of every commit.
-
-If you lose your .git/svn/git-svn/.rev_db file, git-svn will not
+ This gets rid of the 'git-svn-id:' lines at the end of every commit.
++
+If you lose your .git/svn/git-svn/.rev_db file, 'git svn' will not
be able to rebuild it and you won't be able to fetch again,
either. This is fine for one-shot imports.
-
-The 'git-svn log' command will not work on repositories using
++
+The 'git svn log' command will not work on repositories using
this, either. Using this conflicts with the 'useSvmProps'
option for (hopefully) obvious reasons.
svn.useSvmProps::
svn-remote.<name>.useSvmProps::
-
-This allows git-svn to re-map repository URLs and UUIDs from
-mirrors created using SVN::Mirror (or svk) for metadata.
-
+ This allows 'git svn' to re-map repository URLs and UUIDs from
+ mirrors created using SVN::Mirror (or svk) for metadata.
++
If an SVN revision has a property, "svm:headrev", it is likely
that the revision was created by SVN::Mirror (also used by SVK).
The property contains a repository UUID and a revision. We want
svn-remote.<name>.rewriteRoot::
This allows users to create repositories from alternate
- URLs. For example, an administrator could run git-svn on the
+ URLs. For example, an administrator could run 'git svn' on the
server locally (accessing via file://) but wish to distribute
the repository with a public http:// or svn:// URL in the
metadata so users of it will see the public URL.
---
+svn.brokenSymlinkWorkaround::
+ This disables potentially expensive checks to workaround
+ broken symlinks checked into SVN by broken clients. Set this
+ option to "false" if you track a SVN repository with many
+ empty blobs that are not symlinks. This option may be changed
+ while 'git svn' is running and take effect on the next
+ revision fetched. If unset, 'git svn' assumes this option to
+ be "true".
Since the noMetadata, rewriteRoot, useSvnsyncProps and useSvmProps
-options all affect the metadata generated and used by git-svn; they
+options all affect the metadata generated and used by 'git svn'; they
*must* be set in the configuration file before any history is imported
and these settings should never be changed once they are set.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Clone a repo (like git clone):
- git-svn clone http://svn.foo.org/project/trunk
+ git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project/trunk
# Enter the newly cloned directory:
cd trunk
-# You should be on master branch, double-check with git-branch
+# You should be on master branch, double-check with 'git branch'
git branch
# Do some work and commit locally to git:
git commit ...
# Something is committed to SVN, rebase your local changes against the
# latest changes in SVN:
- git-svn rebase
+ git svn rebase
# Now commit your changes (that were committed previously using git) to SVN,
# as well as automatically updating your working HEAD:
- git-svn dcommit
+ git svn dcommit
# Append svn:ignore settings to the default git exclude file:
- git-svn show-ignore >> .git/info/exclude
+ git svn show-ignore >> .git/info/exclude
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tracking and contributing to an entire Subversion-managed project
------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Clone a repo (like git clone):
- git-svn clone http://svn.foo.org/project -T trunk -b branches -t tags
+ git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project -T trunk -b branches -t tags
# View all branches and tags you have cloned:
git branch -r
+# Create a new branch in SVN
+ git svn branch waldo
# Reset your master to trunk (or any other branch, replacing 'trunk'
# with the appropriate name):
git reset --hard remotes/trunk
# of dcommit/rebase/show-ignore should be the same as above.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-The initial 'git-svn clone' can be quite time-consuming
+The initial 'git svn clone' can be quite time-consuming
(especially for large Subversion repositories). If multiple
people (or one person with multiple machines) want to use
-git-svn to interact with the same Subversion repository, you can
-do the initial 'git-svn clone' to a repository on a server and
+'git svn' to interact with the same Subversion repository, you can
+do the initial 'git svn clone' to a repository on a server and
have each person clone that repository with 'git clone':
------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Do the initial import on a server
- ssh server "cd /pub && git-svn clone http://svn.foo.org/project
+ ssh server "cd /pub && git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project
# Clone locally - make sure the refs/remotes/ space matches the server
mkdir project
cd project
- git-init
+ git init
git remote add origin server:/pub/project
git config --add remote.origin.fetch '+refs/remotes/*:refs/remotes/*'
git fetch
-# Initialize git-svn locally (be sure to use the same URL and -T/-b/-t options as were used on server)
- git-svn init http://svn.foo.org/project
+# Create a local branch from one of the branches just fetched
+ git checkout -b master FETCH_HEAD
+# Initialize 'git svn' locally (be sure to use the same URL and -T/-b/-t options as were used on server)
+ git svn init http://svn.example.com/project
# Pull the latest changes from Subversion
- git-svn rebase
+ git svn rebase
------------------------------------------------------------------------
REBASE VS. PULL/MERGE
---------------------
-Originally, git-svn recommended that the remotes/git-svn branch be
+Originally, 'git svn' recommended that the 'remotes/git-svn' branch be
pulled or merged from. This is because the author favored
-'git-svn set-tree B' to commit a single head rather than the
-'git-svn set-tree A..B' notation to commit multiple commits.
+`git svn set-tree B` to commit a single head rather than the
+`git svn set-tree A..B` notation to commit multiple commits.
-If you use 'git-svn set-tree A..B' to commit several diffs and you do
+If you use `git svn set-tree A..B` to commit several diffs and you do
not have the latest remotes/git-svn merged into my-branch, you should
-use 'git-svn rebase' to update your work branch instead of 'git pull' or
-'git merge'. 'pull/merge' can cause non-linear history to be flattened
+use `git svn rebase` to update your work branch instead of `git pull` or
+`git merge`. `pull`/`merge` can cause non-linear history to be flattened
when committing into SVN, which can lead to merge commits reversing
previous commits in SVN.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
-----------------
Merge tracking in Subversion is lacking and doing branched development
-with Subversion can be cumbersome as a result. While git-svn can track
+with Subversion can be cumbersome as a result. While 'git svn' can track
copy history (including branches and tags) for repositories adopting a
standard layout, it cannot yet represent merge history that happened
inside git back upstream to SVN users. Therefore it is advised that
-------
For the sake of simplicity and interoperating with a less-capable system
-(SVN), it is recommended that all git-svn users clone, fetch and dcommit
-directly from the SVN server, and avoid all git-clone/pull/merge/push
+(SVN), it is recommended that all 'git svn' users clone, fetch and dcommit
+directly from the SVN server, and avoid all 'git clone'/'pull'/'merge'/'push'
operations between git repositories and branches. The recommended
method of exchanging code between git branches and users is
-git-format-patch and git-am, or just dcommiting to the SVN repository.
+'git format-patch' and 'git am', or just 'dcommit'ing to the SVN repository.
-Running 'git-merge' or 'git-pull' is NOT recommended on a branch you
-plan to dcommit from. Subversion does not represent merges in any
+Running 'git merge' or 'git pull' is NOT recommended on a branch you
+plan to 'dcommit' from. Subversion does not represent merges in any
reasonable or useful fashion; so users using Subversion cannot see any
merges you've made. Furthermore, if you merge or pull from a git branch
-that is a mirror of an SVN branch, dcommit may commit to the wrong
+that is a mirror of an SVN branch, 'dcommit' may commit to the wrong
branch.
-'git-clone' does not clone branches under the refs/remotes/ hierarchy or
-any git-svn metadata, or config. So repositories created and managed with
-using git-svn should use rsync(1) for cloning, if cloning is to be done
+If you do merge, note the following rule: 'git svn dcommit' will
+attempt to commit on top of the SVN commit named in
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+git log --grep=^git-svn-id: --first-parent -1
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+You 'must' therefore ensure that the most recent commit of the branch
+you want to dcommit to is the 'first' parent of the merge. Chaos will
+ensue otherwise, especially if the first parent is an older commit on
+the same SVN branch.
+
+'git clone' does not clone branches under the refs/remotes/ hierarchy or
+any 'git svn' metadata, or config. So repositories created and managed with
+using 'git svn' should use 'rsync' for cloning, if cloning is to be done
at all.
-Since 'dcommit' uses rebase internally, any git branches you git-push to
-before dcommit on will require forcing an overwrite of the existing ref
+Since 'dcommit' uses rebase internally, any git branches you 'git push' to
+before 'dcommit' on will require forcing an overwrite of the existing ref
on the remote repository. This is generally considered bad practice,
-see the git-push(1) documentation for details.
+see the linkgit:git-push[1] documentation for details.
-Do not use the --amend option of git-commit(1) on a change you've
+Do not use the --amend option of linkgit:git-commit[1] on a change you've
already dcommitted. It is considered bad practice to --amend commits
you've already pushed to a remote repository for other users, and
dcommit with SVN is analogous to that.
+When using multiple --branches or --tags, 'git svn' does not automatically
+handle name collisions (for example, if two branches from different paths have
+the same name, or if a branch and a tag have the same name). In these cases,
+use 'init' to set up your git repository then, before your first 'fetch', edit
+the .git/config file so that the branches and tags are associated with
+different name spaces. For example:
+
+ branches = stable/*:refs/remotes/svn/stable/*
+ branches = debug/*:refs/remotes/svn/debug/*
+
BUGS
----
CONFIGURATION
-------------
-git-svn stores [svn-remote] configuration information in the
+'git svn' stores [svn-remote] configuration information in the
repository .git/config file. It is similar the core git
[remote] sections except 'fetch' keys do not accept glob
arguments; but they are instead handled by the 'branches'
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[svn-remote "project-a"]
url = http://server.org/svn
+ fetch = trunk/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/trunk
branches = branches/*/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/branches/*
tags = tags/*/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/tags/*
- trunk = trunk/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/trunk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Keep in mind that the '*' (asterisk) wildcard of the local ref
+Keep in mind that the '\*' (asterisk) wildcard of the local ref
(right of the ':') *must* be the farthest right path component;
-however the remote wildcard may be anywhere as long as it's own
+however the remote wildcard may be anywhere as long as it's an
independent path component (surrounded by '/' or EOL). This
type of configuration is not automatically created by 'init' and
-should be manually entered with a text-editor or using
-linkgit:git-config[1]
+should be manually entered with a text-editor or using 'git config'.
SEE ALSO
--------