--tags=<tags_subdir>;;
-b<branches_subdir>;;
--branches=<branches_subdir>;;
+-s;;
+--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)
+ (--tags=https://foo.org/project/tags). 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.
--no-metadata;;
Set the 'noMetadata' option in the [svn-remote] config.
--use-svm-props;;
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 dcommit-ing with git-svn.
+'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
# of dcommit/rebase/show-ignore should be the same as above.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
+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
+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
+# Clone locally
+ git clone server:/pub/project
+# Tell git-svn which branch contains the Subversion commits
+ git update-ref refs/remotes/git-svn origin/master
+# 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
+# Pull the latest changes from Subversion
+ git-svn rebase
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
REBASE VS. PULL/MERGE
---------------------
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
-----------------
Merge tracking in Subversion is lacking and doing branched development
-with Subversion is cumbersome as a result. git-svn does not do
-automated merge/branch tracking by default and leaves it entirely up to
-the user on the git side. git-svn does however follow copy
-history of the directory that it is tracking, however (much like
-how 'svn log' works).
+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
+users keep history as linear as possible inside git to ease
+compatibility with SVN (see the CAVEATS section below).
+
+CAVEATS
+-------
+
+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
+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.
+
+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
+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
+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
+on the remote repository. This is generally considered bad practice,
+see the git-push(1) documentation for details.
+
+Do not use the --amend option of 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.
BUGS
----
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep in mind that the '*' (asterisk) wildcard of the local ref
-(left of the ':') *must* be the farthest right path component;
+(right of the ':') *must* be the farthest right path component;
however the remote wildcard may be anywhere as long as it's own
-independent path componet (surrounded by '/' or EOL). This
+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
gitlink:git-config[1]