6 git-svn - Bidirectional operation between a Subversion repository and Git
11 'git svn' <command> [options] [arguments]
15 'git svn' is a simple conduit for changesets between Subversion and Git.
16 It provides a bidirectional flow of changes between a Subversion and a Git
19 'git svn' can track a standard Subversion repository,
20 following the common "trunk/branches/tags" layout, with the --stdlayout option.
21 It can also follow branches and tags in any layout with the -T/-t/-b options
22 (see options to 'init' below, and also the 'clone' command).
24 Once tracking a Subversion repository (with any of the above methods), the Git
25 repository can be updated from Subversion by the 'fetch' command and
26 Subversion updated from Git by the 'dcommit' command.
32 Initializes an empty Git repository with additional
33 metadata directories for 'git svn'. The Subversion URL
34 may be specified as a command-line argument, or as full
35 URL arguments to -T/-t/-b. Optionally, the target
36 directory to operate on can be specified as a second
37 argument. Normally this command initializes the current
41 --trunk=<trunk_subdir>;;
43 --tags=<tags_subdir>;;
45 --branches=<branches_subdir>;;
48 These are optional command-line options for init. Each of
49 these flags can point to a relative repository path
50 (--tags=project/tags) or a full url
51 (--tags=https://foo.org/project/tags).
52 You can specify more than one --tags and/or --branches options, in case
53 your Subversion repository places tags or branches under multiple paths.
54 The option --stdlayout is
55 a shorthand way of setting trunk,tags,branches as the relative paths,
56 which is the Subversion default. If any of the other options are given
57 as well, they take precedence.
59 Set the 'noMetadata' option in the [svn-remote] config.
60 This option is not recommended, please read the 'svn.noMetadata'
61 section of this manpage before using this option.
63 Set the 'useSvmProps' option in the [svn-remote] config.
65 Set the 'useSvnsyncProps' option in the [svn-remote] config.
66 --rewrite-root=<URL>;;
67 Set the 'rewriteRoot' option in the [svn-remote] config.
68 --rewrite-uuid=<UUID>;;
69 Set the 'rewriteUUID' option in the [svn-remote] config.
71 For transports that SVN handles authentication for (http,
72 https, and plain svn), specify the username. For other
73 transports (eg svn+ssh://), you must include the username in
74 the URL, eg svn+ssh://foo@svn.bar.com/project
76 This allows one to specify a prefix which is prepended
77 to the names of remotes if trunk/branches/tags are
78 specified. The prefix does not automatically include a
79 trailing slash, so be sure you include one in the
80 argument if that is what you want. If --branches/-b is
81 specified, the prefix must include a trailing slash.
82 Setting a prefix (with a trailing slash) is strongly
83 encouraged in any case, as your SVN-tracking refs will
84 then be located at "refs/remotes/$prefix/*", which is
85 compatible with Git's own remote-tracking ref layout
86 (refs/remotes/$remote/*). Setting a prefix is also useful
87 if you wish to track multiple projects that share a common
90 NOTE: In Git v2.0, the default prefix will CHANGE from "" (no prefix)
91 to "origin/". This is done to put SVN-tracking refs at
92 "refs/remotes/origin/*" instead of "refs/remotes/*", and make them
93 more compatible with how Git's own remote-tracking refs are organized
94 (i.e. refs/remotes/$remote/*). You can enjoy the same benefits today,
95 by using the --prefix option.
97 --ignore-paths=<regex>;;
98 When passed to 'init' or 'clone' this regular expression will
99 be preserved as a config key. See 'fetch' for a description
101 --include-paths=<regex>;;
102 When passed to 'init' or 'clone' this regular expression will
103 be preserved as a config key. See 'fetch' for a description
104 of '--include-paths'.
106 When tracking multiple directories (using --stdlayout,
107 --branches, or --tags options), git svn will attempt to connect
108 to the root (or highest allowed level) of the Subversion
109 repository. This default allows better tracking of history if
110 entire projects are moved within a repository, but may cause
111 issues on repositories where read access restrictions are in
112 place. Passing '--no-minimize-url' will allow git svn to
113 accept URLs as-is without attempting to connect to a higher
114 level directory. This option is off by default when only
115 one URL/branch is tracked (it would do little good).
118 Fetch unfetched revisions from the Subversion remote we are
119 tracking. The name of the [svn-remote "..."] section in the
120 $GIT_DIR/config file may be specified as an optional
121 command-line argument.
123 This automatically updates the rev_map if needed (see
124 '$GIT_DIR/svn/\*\*/.rev_map.*' in the FILES section below for details).
127 Store Git commit times in the local time zone instead of UTC. This
128 makes 'git log' (even without --date=local) show the same times
129 that `svn log` would in the local time zone.
131 This doesn't interfere with interoperating with the Subversion
132 repository you cloned from, but if you wish for your local Git
133 repository to be able to interoperate with someone else's local Git
134 repository, either don't use this option or you should both use it in
135 the same local time zone.
138 Fetch only from the SVN parent of the current HEAD.
140 --ignore-paths=<regex>;;
141 This allows one to specify a Perl regular expression that will
142 cause skipping of all matching paths from checkout from SVN.
143 The '--ignore-paths' option should match for every 'fetch'
144 (including automatic fetches due to 'clone', 'dcommit',
145 'rebase', etc) on a given repository.
148 config key: svn-remote.<name>.ignore-paths
150 If the ignore-paths config key is set and the command line option is
151 also given, both regular expressions will be used.
156 Skip "doc*" directory for every fetch;;
158 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
159 --ignore-paths="^doc"
160 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
162 Skip "branches" and "tags" of first level directories;;
164 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
165 --ignore-paths="^[^/]+/(?:branches|tags)"
166 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
169 --include-paths=<regex>;;
170 This allows one to specify a Perl regular expression that will
171 cause the inclusion of only matching paths from checkout from SVN.
172 The '--include-paths' option should match for every 'fetch'
173 (including automatic fetches due to 'clone', 'dcommit',
174 'rebase', etc) on a given repository. '--ignore-paths' takes
175 precedence over '--include-paths'.
177 --log-window-size=<n>;;
178 Fetch <n> log entries per request when scanning Subversion history.
179 The default is 100. For very large Subversion repositories, larger
180 values may be needed for 'clone'/'fetch' to complete in reasonable
181 time. But overly large values may lead to higher memory usage and
185 Runs 'init' and 'fetch'. It will automatically create a
186 directory based on the basename of the URL passed to it;
187 or if a second argument is passed; it will create a directory
188 and work within that. It accepts all arguments that the
189 'init' and 'fetch' commands accept; with the exception of
190 '--fetch-all' and '--parent'. After a repository is cloned,
191 the 'fetch' command will be able to update revisions without
192 affecting the working tree; and the 'rebase' command will be
193 able to update the working tree with the latest changes.
195 --preserve-empty-dirs;;
196 Create a placeholder file in the local Git repository for each
197 empty directory fetched from Subversion. This includes directories
198 that become empty by removing all entries in the Subversion
199 repository (but not the directory itself). The placeholder files
200 are also tracked and removed when no longer necessary.
202 --placeholder-filename=<filename>;;
203 Set the name of placeholder files created by --preserve-empty-dirs.
204 Default: ".gitignore"
207 This fetches revisions from the SVN parent of the current HEAD
208 and rebases the current (uncommitted to SVN) work against it.
210 This works similarly to `svn update` or 'git pull' except that
211 it preserves linear history with 'git rebase' instead of
212 'git merge' for ease of dcommitting with 'git svn'.
214 This accepts all options that 'git svn fetch' and 'git rebase'
215 accept. However, '--fetch-all' only fetches from the current
216 [svn-remote], and not all [svn-remote] definitions.
218 Like 'git rebase'; this requires that the working tree be clean
219 and have no uncommitted changes.
221 This automatically updates the rev_map if needed (see
222 '$GIT_DIR/svn/\*\*/.rev_map.*' in the FILES section below for details).
226 Do not fetch remotely; only run 'git rebase' against the
227 last fetched commit from the upstream SVN.
230 Commit each diff from the current branch directly to the SVN
231 repository, and then rebase or reset (depending on whether or
232 not there is a diff between SVN and head). This will create
233 a revision in SVN for each commit in Git.
235 When an optional Git branch name (or a Git commit object name)
236 is specified as an argument, the subcommand works on the specified
237 branch, not on the current branch.
239 Use of 'dcommit' is preferred to 'set-tree' (below).
242 After committing, do not rebase or reset.
244 Commit to this SVN URL (the full path). This is intended to
245 allow existing 'git svn' repositories created with one transport
246 method (e.g. `svn://` or `http://` for anonymous read) to be
247 reused if a user is later given access to an alternate transport
248 method (e.g. `svn+ssh://` or `https://`) for commit.
251 config key: svn-remote.<name>.commiturl
252 config key: svn.commiturl (overwrites all svn-remote.<name>.commiturl options)
254 Using this option for any other purpose (don't ask) is very strongly
257 --mergeinfo=<mergeinfo>;;
258 Add the given merge information during the dcommit
259 (e.g. `--mergeinfo="/branches/foo:1-10"`). All svn server versions can
260 store this information (as a property), and svn clients starting from
261 version 1.5 can make use of it. To specify merge information from multiple
262 branches, use a single space character between the branches
263 (`--mergeinfo="/branches/foo:1-10 /branches/bar:3,5-6,8"`)
266 config key: svn.pushmergeinfo
268 This option will cause git-svn to attempt to automatically populate the
269 svn:mergeinfo property in the SVN repository when possible. Currently, this can
270 only be done when dcommitting non-fast-forward merges where all parents but the
271 first have already been pushed into SVN.
274 Ask the user to confirm that a patch set should actually be sent to SVN.
275 For each patch, one may answer "yes" (accept this patch), "no" (discard this
276 patch), "all" (accept all patches), or "quit".
278 'git svn dcommit' returns immediately if answer is "no" or "quit", without
279 committing anything to SVN.
282 Create a branch in the SVN repository.
286 Allows to specify the commit message.
290 Create a tag by using the tags_subdir instead of the branches_subdir
291 specified during git svn init.
294 --destination=<path>;;
296 If more than one --branches (or --tags) option was given to the 'init'
297 or 'clone' command, you must provide the location of the branch (or
298 tag) you wish to create in the SVN repository. <path> specifies which
299 path to use to create the branch or tag and should match the pattern
300 on the left-hand side of one of the configured branches or tags
301 refspecs. You can see these refspecs with the commands
303 git config --get-all svn-remote.<name>.branches
304 git config --get-all svn-remote.<name>.tags
306 where <name> is the name of the SVN repository as specified by the -R option to
307 'init' (or "svn" by default).
310 Specify the SVN username to perform the commit as. This option overrides
311 the 'username' configuration property.
314 Use the specified URL to connect to the destination Subversion
315 repository. This is useful in cases where the source SVN
316 repository is read-only. This option overrides configuration
317 property 'commiturl'.
319 git config --get-all svn-remote.<name>.commiturl
323 Create parent folders. This parameter is equivalent to the parameter
324 --parents on svn cp commands and is useful for non-standard repository
328 Create a tag in the SVN repository. This is a shorthand for
332 This should make it easy to look up svn log messages when svn
333 users refer to -r/--revision numbers.
335 The following features from `svn log' are supported:
339 --revision=<n>[:<n>];;
340 is supported, non-numeric args are not:
341 HEAD, NEXT, BASE, PREV, etc ...
344 it's not completely compatible with the --verbose
345 output in svn log, but reasonably close.
347 is NOT the same as --max-count, doesn't count
348 merged/excluded commits
357 shows the Git commit sha1, as well
359 our version of --pretty=oneline
362 NOTE: SVN itself only stores times in UTC and nothing else. The regular svn
363 client converts the UTC time to the local time (or based on the TZ=
364 environment). This command has the same behaviour.
366 Any other arguments are passed directly to 'git log'
369 Show what revision and author last modified each line of a file. The
370 output of this mode is format-compatible with the output of
371 `svn blame' by default. Like the SVN blame command,
372 local uncommitted changes in the working tree are ignored;
373 the version of the file in the HEAD revision is annotated. Unknown
374 arguments are passed directly to 'git blame'.
377 Produce output in the same format as 'git blame', but with
378 SVN revision numbers instead of Git commit hashes. In this mode,
379 changes that haven't been committed to SVN (including local
380 working-copy edits) are shown as revision 0.
383 When given an SVN revision number of the form 'rN', returns the
384 corresponding Git commit hash (this can optionally be followed by a
385 tree-ish to specify which branch should be searched). When given a
386 tree-ish, returns the corresponding SVN revision number.
389 Don't require an exact match if given an SVN revision, instead find
390 the commit corresponding to the state of the SVN repository (on the
391 current branch) at the specified revision.
394 Don't require an exact match if given an SVN revision; if there is
395 not an exact match return the closest match searching forward in the
399 You should consider using 'dcommit' instead of this command.
400 Commit specified commit or tree objects to SVN. This relies on
401 your imported fetch data being up-to-date. This makes
402 absolutely no attempts to do patching when committing to SVN, it
403 simply overwrites files with those specified in the tree or
404 commit. All merging is assumed to have taken place
405 independently of 'git svn' functions.
408 Recursively finds the svn:ignore property on directories and
409 creates matching .gitignore files. The resulting files are staged to
410 be committed, but are not committed. Use -r/--revision to refer to a
414 Recursively finds and lists the svn:ignore property on
415 directories. The output is suitable for appending to
416 the $GIT_DIR/info/exclude file.
419 Attempts to recreate empty directories that core Git cannot track
420 based on information in $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>/unhandled.log files.
421 Empty directories are automatically recreated when using
422 "git svn clone" and "git svn rebase", so "mkdirs" is intended
423 for use after commands like "git checkout" or "git reset".
424 (See the svn-remote.<name>.automkdirs config file option for
428 Commits the diff of two tree-ish arguments from the
429 command-line. This command does not rely on being inside an `git svn
430 init`-ed repository. This command takes three arguments, (a) the
431 original tree to diff against, (b) the new tree result, (c) the
432 URL of the target Subversion repository. The final argument
433 (URL) may be omitted if you are working from a 'git svn'-aware
434 repository (that has been `init`-ed with 'git svn').
435 The -r<revision> option is required for this.
438 Shows information about a file or directory similar to what
439 `svn info' provides. Does not currently support a -r/--revision
440 argument. Use the --url option to output only the value of the
444 Lists the properties stored in the Subversion repository about a
445 given file or directory. Use -r/--revision to refer to a specific
449 Gets the Subversion property given as the first argument, for a
450 file. A specific revision can be specified with -r/--revision.
453 Shows the Subversion externals. Use -r/--revision to specify a
457 Compress $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>/unhandled.log files and remove
458 $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>/index files.
461 Undoes the effects of 'fetch' back to the specified revision.
462 This allows you to re-'fetch' an SVN revision. Normally the
463 contents of an SVN revision should never change and 'reset'
464 should not be necessary. However, if SVN permissions change,
465 or if you alter your --ignore-paths option, a 'fetch' may fail
466 with "not found in commit" (file not previously visible) or
467 "checksum mismatch" (missed a modification). If the problem
468 file cannot be ignored forever (with --ignore-paths) the only
469 way to repair the repo is to use 'reset'.
471 Only the rev_map and refs/remotes/git-svn are changed (see
472 '$GIT_DIR/svn/\*\*/.rev_map.*' in the FILES section below for details).
473 Follow 'reset' with a 'fetch' and then 'git reset' or 'git rebase' to
474 move local branches onto the new tree.
478 Specify the most recent revision to keep. All later revisions
482 Discard the specified revision as well, keeping the nearest
485 Assume you have local changes in "master", but you need to refetch "r2".
488 r1---r2---r3 remotes/git-svn
493 Fix the ignore-paths or SVN permissions problem that caused "r2" to
494 be incomplete in the first place. Then:
501 r1---r2'--r3' remotes/git-svn
503 r2---r3---A---B master
506 Then fixup "master" with 'git rebase'.
507 Do NOT use 'git merge' or your history will not be compatible with a
511 git rebase --onto remotes/git-svn A^ master
514 r1---r2'--r3' remotes/git-svn
522 --shared[=(false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody)]::
523 --template=<template_directory>::
524 Only used with the 'init' command.
525 These are passed directly to 'git init'.
529 Used with the 'fetch' command.
531 This allows revision ranges for partial/cauterized history
532 to be supported. $NUMBER, $NUMBER1:$NUMBER2 (numeric ranges),
533 $NUMBER:HEAD, and BASE:$NUMBER are all supported.
535 This can allow you to make partial mirrors when running fetch;
536 but is generally not recommended because history will be skipped
541 Only used with the 'set-tree' command.
543 Read a list of commits from stdin and commit them in reverse
544 order. Only the leading sha1 is read from each line, so
545 'git rev-list --pretty=oneline' output can be used.
548 Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
550 Remove directories from the SVN tree if there are no files left
551 behind. SVN can version empty directories, and they are not
552 removed by default if there are no files left in them. Git
553 cannot version empty directories. Enabling this flag will make
554 the commit to SVN act like Git.
557 config key: svn.rmdir
561 Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
563 Edit the commit message before committing to SVN. This is off by
564 default for objects that are commits, and forced on when committing
571 --find-copies-harder::
572 Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
574 They are both passed directly to 'git diff-tree'; see
575 linkgit:git-diff-tree[1] for more information.
579 config key: svn.findcopiesharder
582 --authors-file=<filename>::
583 Syntax is compatible with the file used by 'git cvsimport':
585 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
586 loginname = Joe User <user@example.com>
587 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
589 If this option is specified and 'git svn' encounters an SVN
590 committer name that does not exist in the authors-file, 'git svn'
591 will abort operation. The user will then have to add the
592 appropriate entry. Re-running the previous 'git svn' command
593 after the authors-file is modified should continue operation.
596 config key: svn.authorsfile
598 --authors-prog=<filename>::
599 If this option is specified, for each SVN committer name that
600 does not exist in the authors file, the given file is executed
601 with the committer name as the first argument. The program is
602 expected to return a single line of the form "Name <email>",
603 which will be treated as if included in the authors file.
607 Make 'git svn' less verbose. Specify a second time to make it
611 --repack-flags=<flags>::
612 These should help keep disk usage sane for large fetches with
615 --repack takes an optional argument for the number of revisions
616 to fetch before repacking. This defaults to repacking every
617 1000 commits fetched if no argument is specified.
619 --repack-flags are passed directly to 'git repack'.
622 config key: svn.repack
623 config key: svn.repackflags
628 --strategy=<strategy>::
631 These are only used with the 'dcommit' and 'rebase' commands.
633 Passed directly to 'git rebase' when using 'dcommit' if a
634 'git reset' cannot be used (see 'dcommit').
638 This can be used with the 'dcommit', 'rebase', 'branch' and
641 For 'dcommit', print out the series of Git arguments that would show
642 which diffs would be committed to SVN.
644 For 'rebase', display the local branch associated with the upstream svn
645 repository associated with the current branch and the URL of svn
646 repository that will be fetched from.
648 For 'branch' and 'tag', display the urls that will be used for copying when
649 creating the branch or tag.
652 When retrieving svn commits into Git (as part of 'fetch', 'rebase', or
653 'dcommit' operations), look for the first `From:` or `Signed-off-by:` line
654 in the log message and use that as the author string.
656 When committing to svn from Git (as part of 'commit-diff', 'set-tree' or 'dcommit'
657 operations), if the existing log message doesn't already have a
658 `From:` or `Signed-off-by:` line, append a `From:` line based on the
659 Git commit's author string. If you use this, then `--use-log-author`
660 will retrieve a valid author string for all commits.
668 This sets GIT_SVN_ID (instead of using the environment). This
669 allows the user to override the default refname to fetch from
670 when tracking a single URL. The 'log' and 'dcommit' commands
671 no longer require this switch as an argument.
674 --svn-remote <remote name>::
675 Specify the [svn-remote "<remote name>"] section to use,
676 this allows SVN multiple repositories to be tracked.
680 This option is only relevant if we are tracking branches (using
681 one of the repository layout options --trunk, --tags,
682 --branches, --stdlayout). For each tracked branch, try to find
683 out where its revision was copied from, and set
684 a suitable parent in the first Git commit for the branch.
685 This is especially helpful when we're tracking a directory
686 that has been moved around within the repository. If this
687 feature is disabled, the branches created by 'git svn' will all
688 be linear and not share any history, meaning that there will be
689 no information on where branches were branched off or merged.
690 However, following long/convoluted histories can take a long
691 time, so disabling this feature may speed up the cloning
692 process. This feature is enabled by default, use
693 --no-follow-parent to disable it.
696 config key: svn.followparent
698 CONFIG FILE-ONLY OPTIONS
699 ------------------------
702 svn-remote.<name>.noMetadata::
703 This gets rid of the 'git-svn-id:' lines at the end of every commit.
705 This option can only be used for one-shot imports as 'git svn'
706 will not be able to fetch again without metadata. Additionally,
707 if you lose your '$GIT_DIR/svn/\*\*/.rev_map.*' files, 'git svn' will not
708 be able to rebuild them.
710 The 'git svn log' command will not work on repositories using
711 this, either. Using this conflicts with the 'useSvmProps'
712 option for (hopefully) obvious reasons.
714 This option is NOT recommended as it makes it difficult to track down
715 old references to SVN revision numbers in existing documentation, bug
716 reports and archives. If you plan to eventually migrate from SVN to Git
717 and are certain about dropping SVN history, consider
718 linkgit:git-filter-branch[1] instead. filter-branch also allows
719 reformatting of metadata for ease-of-reading and rewriting authorship
720 info for non-"svn.authorsFile" users.
723 svn-remote.<name>.useSvmProps::
724 This allows 'git svn' to re-map repository URLs and UUIDs from
725 mirrors created using SVN::Mirror (or svk) for metadata.
727 If an SVN revision has a property, "svm:headrev", it is likely
728 that the revision was created by SVN::Mirror (also used by SVK).
729 The property contains a repository UUID and a revision. We want
730 to make it look like we are mirroring the original URL, so
731 introduce a helper function that returns the original identity
732 URL and UUID, and use it when generating metadata in commit
735 svn.useSvnsyncProps::
736 svn-remote.<name>.useSvnsyncprops::
737 Similar to the useSvmProps option; this is for users
738 of the svnsync(1) command distributed with SVN 1.4.x and
741 svn-remote.<name>.rewriteRoot::
742 This allows users to create repositories from alternate
743 URLs. For example, an administrator could run 'git svn' on the
744 server locally (accessing via file://) but wish to distribute
745 the repository with a public http:// or svn:// URL in the
746 metadata so users of it will see the public URL.
748 svn-remote.<name>.rewriteUUID::
749 Similar to the useSvmProps option; this is for users who need
750 to remap the UUID manually. This may be useful in situations
751 where the original UUID is not available via either useSvmProps
754 svn-remote.<name>.pushurl::
756 Similar to Git's 'remote.<name>.pushurl', this key is designed
757 to be used in cases where 'url' points to an SVN repository
758 via a read-only transport, to provide an alternate read/write
759 transport. It is assumed that both keys point to the same
760 repository. Unlike 'commiturl', 'pushurl' is a base path. If
761 either 'commiturl' or 'pushurl' could be used, 'commiturl'
764 svn.brokenSymlinkWorkaround::
765 This disables potentially expensive checks to workaround
766 broken symlinks checked into SVN by broken clients. Set this
767 option to "false" if you track a SVN repository with many
768 empty blobs that are not symlinks. This option may be changed
769 while 'git svn' is running and take effect on the next
770 revision fetched. If unset, 'git svn' assumes this option to
773 svn.pathnameencoding::
774 This instructs git svn to recode pathnames to a given encoding.
775 It can be used by windows users and by those who work in non-utf8
776 locales to avoid corrupted file names with non-ASCII characters.
777 Valid encodings are the ones supported by Perl's Encode module.
779 svn-remote.<name>.automkdirs::
780 Normally, the "git svn clone" and "git svn rebase" commands
781 attempt to recreate empty directories that are in the
782 Subversion repository. If this option is set to "false", then
783 empty directories will only be created if the "git svn mkdirs"
784 command is run explicitly. If unset, 'git svn' assumes this
787 Since the noMetadata, rewriteRoot, rewriteUUID, useSvnsyncProps and useSvmProps
788 options all affect the metadata generated and used by 'git svn'; they
789 *must* be set in the configuration file before any history is imported
790 and these settings should never be changed once they are set.
792 Additionally, only one of these options can be used per svn-remote
793 section because they affect the 'git-svn-id:' metadata line, except
794 for rewriteRoot and rewriteUUID which can be used together.
800 Tracking and contributing to the trunk of a Subversion-managed project
801 (ignoring tags and branches):
803 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
804 # Clone a repo (like git clone):
805 git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project/trunk
806 # Enter the newly cloned directory:
808 # You should be on master branch, double-check with 'git branch'
810 # Do some work and commit locally to Git:
812 # Something is committed to SVN, rebase your local changes against the
813 # latest changes in SVN:
815 # Now commit your changes (that were committed previously using Git) to SVN,
816 # as well as automatically updating your working HEAD:
818 # Append svn:ignore settings to the default Git exclude file:
819 git svn show-ignore >> .git/info/exclude
820 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
822 Tracking and contributing to an entire Subversion-managed project
823 (complete with a trunk, tags and branches):
825 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
826 # Clone a repo with standard SVN directory layout (like git clone):
827 git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project --stdlayout --prefix svn/
828 # Or, if the repo uses a non-standard directory layout:
829 git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project -T tr -b branch -t tag --prefix svn/
830 # View all branches and tags you have cloned:
832 # Create a new branch in SVN
834 # Reset your master to trunk (or any other branch, replacing 'trunk'
835 # with the appropriate name):
836 git reset --hard svn/trunk
837 # You may only dcommit to one branch/tag/trunk at a time. The usage
838 # of dcommit/rebase/show-ignore should be the same as above.
839 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
841 The initial 'git svn clone' can be quite time-consuming
842 (especially for large Subversion repositories). If multiple
843 people (or one person with multiple machines) want to use
844 'git svn' to interact with the same Subversion repository, you can
845 do the initial 'git svn clone' to a repository on a server and
846 have each person clone that repository with 'git clone':
848 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
849 # Do the initial import on a server
850 ssh server "cd /pub && git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project [options...]"
851 # Clone locally - make sure the refs/remotes/ space matches the server
855 git remote add origin server:/pub/project
856 git config --replace-all remote.origin.fetch '+refs/remotes/*:refs/remotes/*'
858 # Prevent fetch/pull from remote Git server in the future,
859 # we only want to use git svn for future updates
860 git config --remove-section remote.origin
861 # Create a local branch from one of the branches just fetched
862 git checkout -b master FETCH_HEAD
863 # Initialize 'git svn' locally (be sure to use the same URL and
864 # --stdlayout/-T/-b/-t/--prefix options as were used on server)
865 git svn init http://svn.example.com/project [options...]
866 # Pull the latest changes from Subversion
868 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
870 REBASE VS. PULL/MERGE
871 ---------------------
872 Prefer to use 'git svn rebase' or 'git rebase', rather than
873 'git pull' or 'git merge' to synchronize unintegrated commits with a 'git svn'
874 branch. Doing so will keep the history of unintegrated commits linear with
875 respect to the upstream SVN repository and allow the use of the preferred
876 'git svn dcommit' subcommand to push unintegrated commits back into SVN.
878 Originally, 'git svn' recommended that developers pulled or merged from
879 the 'git svn' branch. This was because the author favored
880 `git svn set-tree B` to commit a single head rather than the
881 `git svn set-tree A..B` notation to commit multiple commits. Use of
882 'git pull' or 'git merge' with `git svn set-tree A..B` will cause non-linear
883 history to be flattened when committing into SVN and this can lead to merge
884 commits unexpectedly reversing previous commits in SVN.
888 While 'git svn' can track
889 copy history (including branches and tags) for repositories adopting a
890 standard layout, it cannot yet represent merge history that happened
891 inside git back upstream to SVN users. Therefore it is advised that
892 users keep history as linear as possible inside Git to ease
893 compatibility with SVN (see the CAVEATS section below).
895 HANDLING OF SVN BRANCHES
896 ------------------------
897 If 'git svn' is configured to fetch branches (and --follow-branches
898 is in effect), it sometimes creates multiple Git branches for one
899 SVN branch, where the additional branches have names of the form
900 'branchname@nnn' (with nnn an SVN revision number). These additional
901 branches are created if 'git svn' cannot find a parent commit for the
902 first commit in an SVN branch, to connect the branch to the history of
905 Normally, the first commit in an SVN branch consists
906 of a copy operation. 'git svn' will read this commit to get the SVN
907 revision the branch was created from. It will then try to find the
908 Git commit that corresponds to this SVN revision, and use that as the
909 parent of the branch. However, it is possible that there is no suitable
910 Git commit to serve as parent. This will happen, among other reasons,
911 if the SVN branch is a copy of a revision that was not fetched by 'git
912 svn' (e.g. because it is an old revision that was skipped with
913 '--revision'), or if in SVN a directory was copied that is not tracked
914 by 'git svn' (such as a branch that is not tracked at all, or a
915 subdirectory of a tracked branch). In these cases, 'git svn' will still
916 create a Git branch, but instead of using an existing Git commit as the
917 parent of the branch, it will read the SVN history of the directory the
918 branch was copied from and create appropriate Git commits. This is
919 indicated by the message "Initializing parent: <branchname>".
921 Additionally, it will create a special branch named
922 '<branchname>@<SVN-Revision>', where <SVN-Revision> is the SVN revision
923 number the branch was copied from. This branch will point to the newly
924 created parent commit of the branch. If in SVN the branch was deleted
925 and later recreated from a different version, there will be multiple
926 such branches with an '@'.
928 Note that this may mean that multiple Git commits are created for a
931 An example: in an SVN repository with a standard
932 trunk/tags/branches layout, a directory trunk/sub is created in r.100.
933 In r.200, trunk/sub is branched by copying it to branches/. 'git svn
934 clone -s' will then create a branch 'sub'. It will also create new Git
935 commits for r.100 through r.199 and use these as the history of branch
936 'sub'. Thus there will be two Git commits for each revision from r.100
937 to r.199 (one containing trunk/, one containing trunk/sub/). Finally,
938 it will create a branch 'sub@200' pointing to the new parent commit of
939 branch 'sub' (i.e. the commit for r.200 and trunk/sub/).
944 For the sake of simplicity and interoperating with Subversion,
945 it is recommended that all 'git svn' users clone, fetch and dcommit
946 directly from the SVN server, and avoid all 'git clone'/'pull'/'merge'/'push'
947 operations between Git repositories and branches. The recommended
948 method of exchanging code between Git branches and users is
949 'git format-patch' and 'git am', or just 'dcommit'ing to the SVN repository.
951 Running 'git merge' or 'git pull' is NOT recommended on a branch you
952 plan to 'dcommit' from because Subversion users cannot see any
953 merges you've made. Furthermore, if you merge or pull from a Git branch
954 that is a mirror of an SVN branch, 'dcommit' may commit to the wrong
957 If you do merge, note the following rule: 'git svn dcommit' will
958 attempt to commit on top of the SVN commit named in
959 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
960 git log --grep=^git-svn-id: --first-parent -1
961 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
962 You 'must' therefore ensure that the most recent commit of the branch
963 you want to dcommit to is the 'first' parent of the merge. Chaos will
964 ensue otherwise, especially if the first parent is an older commit on
967 'git clone' does not clone branches under the refs/remotes/ hierarchy or
968 any 'git svn' metadata, or config. So repositories created and managed with
969 using 'git svn' should use 'rsync' for cloning, if cloning is to be done
972 Since 'dcommit' uses rebase internally, any Git branches you 'git push' to
973 before 'dcommit' on will require forcing an overwrite of the existing ref
974 on the remote repository. This is generally considered bad practice,
975 see the linkgit:git-push[1] documentation for details.
977 Do not use the --amend option of linkgit:git-commit[1] on a change you've
978 already dcommitted. It is considered bad practice to --amend commits
979 you've already pushed to a remote repository for other users, and
980 dcommit with SVN is analogous to that.
982 When cloning an SVN repository, if none of the options for describing
983 the repository layout is used (--trunk, --tags, --branches,
984 --stdlayout), 'git svn clone' will create a Git repository with
985 completely linear history, where branches and tags appear as separate
986 directories in the working copy. While this is the easiest way to get a
987 copy of a complete repository, for projects with many branches it will
988 lead to a working copy many times larger than just the trunk. Thus for
989 projects using the standard directory structure (trunk/branches/tags),
990 it is recommended to clone with option '--stdlayout'. If the project
991 uses a non-standard structure, and/or if branches and tags are not
992 required, it is easiest to only clone one directory (typically trunk),
993 without giving any repository layout options. If the full history with
994 branches and tags is required, the options '--trunk' / '--branches' /
995 '--tags' must be used.
997 When using the options for describing the repository layout (--trunk,
998 --tags, --branches, --stdlayout), please also specify the --prefix
999 option (e.g. '--prefix=origin/') to cause your SVN-tracking refs to be
1000 placed at refs/remotes/origin/* rather than the default refs/remotes/*.
1001 The former is more compatible with the layout of Git's "regular"
1002 remote-tracking refs (refs/remotes/$remote/*), and may potentially
1003 prevent similarly named SVN branches and Git remotes from clobbering
1004 each other. In Git v2.0 the default prefix used (i.e. when no --prefix
1005 is given) will change from "" (no prefix) to "origin/".
1007 When using multiple --branches or --tags, 'git svn' does not automatically
1008 handle name collisions (for example, if two branches from different paths have
1009 the same name, or if a branch and a tag have the same name). In these cases,
1010 use 'init' to set up your Git repository then, before your first 'fetch', edit
1011 the $GIT_DIR/config file so that the branches and tags are associated
1012 with different name spaces. For example:
1014 branches = stable/*:refs/remotes/svn/stable/*
1015 branches = debug/*:refs/remotes/svn/debug/*
1020 We ignore all SVN properties except svn:executable. Any unhandled
1021 properties are logged to $GIT_DIR/svn/<refname>/unhandled.log
1023 Renamed and copied directories are not detected by Git and hence not
1024 tracked when committing to SVN. I do not plan on adding support for
1025 this as it's quite difficult and time-consuming to get working for all
1026 the possible corner cases (Git doesn't do it, either). Committing
1027 renamed and copied files is fully supported if they're similar enough
1028 for Git to detect them.
1030 In SVN, it is possible (though discouraged) to commit changes to a tag
1031 (because a tag is just a directory copy, thus technically the same as a
1032 branch). When cloning an SVN repository, 'git svn' cannot know if such a
1033 commit to a tag will happen in the future. Thus it acts conservatively
1034 and imports all SVN tags as branches, prefixing the tag name with 'tags/'.
1039 'git svn' stores [svn-remote] configuration information in the
1040 repository $GIT_DIR/config file. It is similar the core Git
1041 [remote] sections except 'fetch' keys do not accept glob
1042 arguments; but they are instead handled by the 'branches'
1043 and 'tags' keys. Since some SVN repositories are oddly
1044 configured with multiple projects glob expansions such those
1045 listed below are allowed:
1047 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
1048 [svn-remote "project-a"]
1049 url = http://server.org/svn
1050 fetch = trunk/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/trunk
1051 branches = branches/*/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/branches/*
1052 tags = tags/*/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/tags/*
1053 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
1055 Keep in mind that the '\*' (asterisk) wildcard of the local ref
1056 (right of the ':') *must* be the farthest right path component;
1057 however the remote wildcard may be anywhere as long as it's an
1058 independent path component (surrounded by '/' or EOL). This
1059 type of configuration is not automatically created by 'init' and
1060 should be manually entered with a text-editor or using 'git config'.
1062 It is also possible to fetch a subset of branches or tags by using a
1063 comma-separated list of names within braces. For example:
1065 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
1066 [svn-remote "huge-project"]
1067 url = http://server.org/svn
1068 fetch = trunk/src:refs/remotes/trunk
1069 branches = branches/{red,green}/src:refs/remotes/project-a/branches/*
1070 tags = tags/{1.0,2.0}/src:refs/remotes/project-a/tags/*
1071 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
1073 Multiple fetch, branches, and tags keys are supported:
1075 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
1076 [svn-remote "messy-repo"]
1077 url = http://server.org/svn
1078 fetch = trunk/project-a:refs/remotes/project-a/trunk
1079 fetch = branches/demos/june-project-a-demo:refs/remotes/project-a/demos/june-demo
1080 branches = branches/server/*:refs/remotes/project-a/branches/*
1081 branches = branches/demos/2011/*:refs/remotes/project-a/2011-demos/*
1082 tags = tags/server/*:refs/remotes/project-a/tags/*
1083 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
1085 Creating a branch in such a configuration requires disambiguating which
1086 location to use using the -d or --destination flag:
1088 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
1089 $ git svn branch -d branches/server release-2-3-0
1090 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
1092 Note that git-svn keeps track of the highest revision in which a branch
1093 or tag has appeared. If the subset of branches or tags is changed after
1094 fetching, then $GIT_DIR/svn/.metadata must be manually edited to remove
1095 (or reset) branches-maxRev and/or tags-maxRev as appropriate.
1099 $GIT_DIR/svn/\*\*/.rev_map.*::
1100 Mapping between Subversion revision numbers and Git commit
1101 names. In a repository where the noMetadata option is not set,
1102 this can be rebuilt from the git-svn-id: lines that are at the
1103 end of every commit (see the 'svn.noMetadata' section above for
1106 'git svn fetch' and 'git svn rebase' automatically update the rev_map
1107 if it is missing or not up to date. 'git svn reset' automatically
1112 linkgit:git-rebase[1]
1116 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite