NAME
----
-git-cvsimport - Import a CVS repository into git
+git-cvsimport - Salvage your data out of another SCM people love to hate
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git-cvsimport' [-o <branch-for-HEAD>] [-h] [-v] [-d <CVSROOT>] [-s <subst>]
- [-p <options-for-cvsps>] [-C <git_repository>] [-i] [-P <file>]
- [-m] [-M regex] [<CVS_module>]
+'git cvsimport' [-o <branch-for-HEAD>] [-h] [-v] [-d <CVSROOT>]
+ [-A <author-conv-file>] [-p <options-for-cvsps>] [-P <file>]
+ [-C <git_repository>] [-z <fuzz>] [-i] [-k] [-u] [-s <subst>]
+ [-a] [-m] [-M <regex>] [-S <regex>] [-L <commitlimit>]
+ [-r <remote>] [<CVS_module>]
DESCRIPTION
Splitting the CVS log into patch sets is done by 'cvsps'.
At least version 2.1 is required.
+*WARNING:* for certain situations the import leads to incorrect results.
+Please see the section <<issues,ISSUES>> for further reference.
+
You should *never* do any work of your own on the branches that are
-created by git-cvsimport. The initial import will create and populate a
+created by 'git-cvsimport'. By default initial import will create and populate a
"master" branch from the CVS repository's main branch which you're free
-to work with; after that, you need to 'git merge' incremental imports, or
-any CVS branches, yourself.
+to work with; after that, you need to 'git-merge' incremental imports, or
+any CVS branches, yourself. It is advisable to specify a named remote via
+-r to separate and protect the incoming branches.
+
+If you intend to set up a shared public repository that all developers can
+read/write, or if you want to use linkgit:git-cvsserver[1], then you
+probably want to make a bare clone of the imported repository,
+and use the clone as the shared repository.
+See linkgit:gitcvs-migration[7].
+
OPTIONS
-------
+-v::
+ Verbosity: let 'cvsimport' report what it is doing.
+
-d <CVSROOT>::
The root of the CVS archive. May be local (a simple path) or remote;
- currently, only the :local:, :ext: and :pserver: access methods
- are supported.
+ currently, only the :local:, :ext: and :pserver: access methods
+ are supported. If not given, 'git-cvsimport' will try to read it
+ from `CVS/Root`. If no such file exists, it checks for the
+ `CVSROOT` environment variable.
+
+<CVS_module>::
+ The CVS module you want to import. Relative to <CVSROOT>.
+ If not given, 'git-cvsimport' tries to read it from
+ `CVS/Repository`.
-C <target-dir>::
The git repository to import to. If the directory doesn't
exist, it will be created. Default is the current directory.
+-r <remote>::
+ The git remote to import this CVS repository into.
+ Moves all CVS branches into remotes/<remote>/<branch>
+ akin to the way 'git-clone' uses 'origin' by default.
+
+-o <branch-for-HEAD>::
+ When no remote is specified (via -r) the 'HEAD' branch
+ from CVS is imported to the 'origin' branch within the git
+ repository, as 'HEAD' already has a special meaning for git.
+ When a remote is specified the 'HEAD' branch is named
+ remotes/<remote>/master mirroring 'git-clone' behaviour.
+ Use this option if you want to import into a different
+ branch.
++
+Use '-o master' for continuing an import that was initially done by
+the old cvs2git tool.
+
-i::
Import-only: don't perform a checkout after importing. This option
ensures the working directory and index remain untouched and will
not create them if they do not exist.
-k::
- Kill keywords: will extract files with -kk from the CVS archive
+ Kill keywords: will extract files with '-kk' from the CVS archive
to avoid noisy changesets. Highly recommended, but off by default
- to preserve compatibility with early imported trees.
+ to preserve compatibility with early imported trees.
-u::
Convert underscores in tag and branch names to dots.
--o <branch-for-HEAD>::
- The 'HEAD' branch from CVS is imported to the 'origin' branch within
- the git repository, as 'HEAD' already has a special meaning for git.
- Use this option if you want to import into a different branch.
-+
-Use '-o master' for continuing an import that was initially done by
-the old cvs2git tool.
+-s <subst>::
+ Substitute the character "/" in branch names with <subst>
-p <options-for-cvsps>::
Additional options for cvsps.
+
If you need to pass multiple options, separate them with a comma.
+-z <fuzz>::
+ Pass the timestamp fuzz factor to cvsps, in seconds. If unset,
+ cvsps defaults to 300s.
+
-P <cvsps-output-file>::
Instead of calling cvsps, read the provided cvsps output file. Useful
for debugging or when cvsps is being handled outside cvsimport.
--m::
+-m::
Attempt to detect merges based on the commit message. This option
- will enable default regexes that try to capture the name source
- branch name from the commit message.
+ will enable default regexes that try to capture the source
+ branch name from the commit message.
-M <regex>::
Attempt to detect merges based on the commit message with a custom
- regex. It can be used with -m to also see the default regexes.
- You must escape forward slashes.
-
--v::
- Verbosity: let 'cvsimport' report what it is doing.
-
-<CVS_module>::
- The CVS module you want to import. Relative to <CVSROOT>.
+ regex. It can be used with '-m' to enable the default regexes
+ as well. You must escape forward slashes.
++
+The regex must capture the source branch name in $1.
++
+This option can be used several times to provide several detection regexes.
--h::
- Print a short usage message and exit.
+-S <regex>::
+ Skip paths matching the regex.
--z <fuzz>::
- Pass the timestamp fuzz factor to cvsps.
+-a::
+ Import all commits, including recent ones. cvsimport by default
+ skips commits that have a timestamp less than 10 minutes ago.
--s <subst>::
- Substitute the character "/" in branch names with <subst>
+-L <limit>::
+ Limit the number of commits imported. Workaround for cases where
+ cvsimport leaks memory.
-A <author-conv-file>::
- CVS by default uses the unix username when writing its
+ CVS by default uses the Unix username when writing its
commit logs. Using this option and an author-conv-file
in this format
+
---------
+
-git-cvsimport will make it appear as those authors had
+'git-cvsimport' will make it appear as those authors had
their GIT_AUTHOR_NAME and GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL set properly
all along.
+
-For convenience, this data is saved to $GIT_DIR/cvs-authors
-each time the -A option is provided and read from that same
-file each time git-cvsimport is run.
+For convenience, this data is saved to `$GIT_DIR/cvs-authors`
+each time the '-A' option is provided and read from that same
+file each time 'git-cvsimport' is run.
+
It is not recommended to use this feature if you intend to
export changes back to CVS again later with
-gitlink:git-cvsexportcommit[1].
+'git-cvsexportcommit'.
+
+-h::
+ Print a short usage message and exit.
OUTPUT
------
Otherwise, success is indicated the Unix way, i.e. by simply exiting with
a zero exit status.
+[[issues]]
+ISSUES
+------
+Problems related to timestamps:
+
+ * If timestamps of commits in the cvs repository are not stable enough
+ to be used for ordering commits changes may show up in the wrong
+ order.
+ * If any files were ever "cvs import"ed more than once (e.g., import of
+ more than one vendor release) the HEAD contains the wrong content.
+ * If the timestamp order of different files cross the revision order
+ within the commit matching time window the order of commits may be
+ wrong.
+
+Problems related to branches:
+
+ * Branches on which no commits have been made are not imported.
+ * All files from the branching point are added to a branch even if
+ never added in cvs.
+ * This applies to files added to the source branch *after* a daughter
+ branch was created: if previously no commit was made on the daughter
+ branch they will erroneously be added to the daughter branch in git.
+
+Problems related to tags:
+
+* Multiple tags on the same revision are not imported.
+
+If you suspect that any of these issues may apply to the repository you
+want to import consider using these alternative tools which proved to be
+more stable in practice:
+
+* cvs2git (part of cvs2svn), `http://cvs2svn.tigris.org`
+* parsecvs, `http://cgit.freedesktop.org/~keithp/parsecvs`
Author
------
GIT
---
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
-
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite