6 git-svn - Bidirectional operation between a single Subversion branch and git
10 'git-svn' <command> [options] [arguments]
14 git-svn is a simple conduit for changesets between Subversion and git.
15 It is not to be confused with gitlink:git-svnimport[1], which is
16 read-only and geared towards tracking multiple branches.
18 git-svn was originally designed for an individual developer who wants a
19 bidirectional flow of changesets between a single branch in Subversion
20 and an arbitrary number of branches in git. Since its inception,
21 git-svn has gained the ability to track multiple branches in a manner
22 similar to git-svnimport; but it cannot (yet) automatically detect new
23 branches and tags like git-svnimport does.
25 git-svn is especially useful when it comes to tracking repositories
26 not organized in the way Subversion developers recommend (trunk,
27 branches, tags directories).
34 Creates an empty git repository with additional metadata
35 directories for git-svn. The Subversion URL must be specified
36 as a command-line argument. Optionally, the target directory
37 to operate on can be specified as a second argument. Normally
38 this command initializes the current directory.
42 Fetch unfetched revisions from the Subversion URL we are
43 tracking. refs/remotes/git-svn will be updated to the
46 Note: You should never attempt to modify the remotes/git-svn
47 branch outside of git-svn. Instead, create a branch from
48 remotes/git-svn and work on that branch. Use the 'dcommit'
49 command (see below) to write git commits back to
52 See '<<fetch-args,Additional Fetch Arguments>>' if you are interested in
53 manually joining branches on commit.
56 Commit each diff from a specified head directly to the SVN
57 repository, and then rebase or reset (depending on whether or
58 not there is a diff between SVN and head). This will create
59 a revision in SVN for each commit in git.
60 It is recommended that you run git-svn fetch and rebase (not
61 pull or merge) your commits against the latest changes in the
63 An optional command-line argument may be specified as an
65 This is advantageous over 'set-tree' (below) because it produces
66 cleaner, more linear history.
69 This should make it easy to look up svn log messages when svn
70 users refer to -r/--revision numbers.
72 The following features from `svn log' are supported:
74 --revision=<n>[:<n>] - is supported, non-numeric args are not:
75 HEAD, NEXT, BASE, PREV, etc ...
76 -v/--verbose - it's not completely compatible with
77 the --verbose output in svn log, but
79 --limit=<n> - is NOT the same as --max-count,
80 doesn't count merged/excluded commits
81 --incremental - supported
85 --show-commit - shows the git commit sha1, as well
86 --oneline - our version of --pretty=oneline
88 Any other arguments are passed directly to `git log'
91 You should consider using 'dcommit' instead of this command.
92 Commit specified commit or tree objects to SVN. This relies on
93 your imported fetch data being up-to-date. This makes
94 absolutely no attempts to do patching when committing to SVN, it
95 simply overwrites files with those specified in the tree or
96 commit. All merging is assumed to have taken place
97 independently of git-svn functions.
100 Not a part of daily usage, but this is a useful command if
101 you've just cloned a repository (using gitlink:git-clone[1]) that was
102 tracked with git-svn. Unfortunately, git-clone does not clone
103 git-svn metadata and the svn working tree that git-svn uses for
104 its operations. This rebuilds the metadata so git-svn can
105 resume fetch operations. A Subversion URL may be optionally
106 specified at the command-line if the directory/repository you're
107 tracking has moved or changed protocols.
110 Recursively finds and lists the svn:ignore property on
111 directories. The output is suitable for appending to
112 the $GIT_DIR/info/exclude file.
115 Commits the diff of two tree-ish arguments from the
116 command-line. This command is intended for interoperability with
117 git-svnimport and does not rely on being inside an git-svn
118 init-ed repository. This command takes three arguments, (a) the
119 original tree to diff against, (b) the new tree result, (c) the
120 URL of the target Subversion repository. The final argument
121 (URL) may be omitted if you are working from a git-svn-aware
122 repository (that has been init-ed with git-svn).
123 The -r<revision> option is required for this.
126 This command attempts to detect merges/branches from already
127 imported history. Techniques used currently include regexes,
128 file copies, and tree-matches). This command generates (or
129 modifies) the $GIT_DIR/info/grafts file. This command is
130 considered experimental, and inherently flawed because
131 merge-tracking in SVN is inherently flawed and inconsistent
132 across different repositories.
135 This command supports git-svnimport-like command-line syntax for
136 importing repositories that are layed out as recommended by the
137 SVN folks. This is a bit more tolerant than the git-svnimport
138 command-line syntax and doesn't require the user to figure out
139 where the repository URL ends and where the repository path
143 --trunk=<trunk_subdir>::
145 --tags=<tags_subdir>::
146 -b<branches_subdir>::
147 --branches=<branches_subdir>::
148 These are the command-line options for multi-init. Each of
149 these flags can point to a relative repository path
150 (--tags=project/tags') or a full url
151 (--tags=https://foo.org/project/tags)
154 This allows one to specify a prefix which is prepended to the
155 names of remotes. The prefix does not automatically include a
156 trailing slash, so be sure you include one in the argument if
157 that is what you want. This is useful if you wish to track
158 multiple projects that share a common repository.
161 This runs fetch on all known SVN branches we're tracking. This
162 will NOT discover new branches (unlike git-svnimport), so
163 multi-init will need to be re-run (it's idempotent).
172 --template=<template_directory>::
173 Only used with the 'init' command.
174 These are passed directly to gitlink:git-init[1].
179 Only used with the 'fetch' command.
181 Takes any valid -r<argument> svn would accept and passes it
182 directly to svn. -r<ARG1>:<ARG2> ranges and "{" DATE "}" syntax
183 is also supported. This is passed directly to svn, see svn
184 documentation for more details.
186 This can allow you to make partial mirrors when running fetch.
191 Only used with the 'set-tree' command.
193 Read a list of commits from stdin and commit them in reverse
194 order. Only the leading sha1 is read from each line, so
195 git-rev-list --pretty=oneline output can be used.
199 Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
201 Remove directories from the SVN tree if there are no files left
202 behind. SVN can version empty directories, and they are not
203 removed by default if there are no files left in them. git
204 cannot version empty directories. Enabling this flag will make
205 the commit to SVN act like git.
207 repo-config key: svn.rmdir
212 Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
214 Edit the commit message before committing to SVN. This is off by
215 default for objects that are commits, and forced on when committing
218 repo-config key: svn.edit
221 --find-copies-harder::
223 Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
225 They are both passed directly to git-diff-tree see
226 gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] for more information.
229 repo-config key: svn.l
230 repo-config key: svn.findcopiesharder
233 --authors-file=<filename>::
235 Syntax is compatible with the files used by git-svnimport and
238 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
239 loginname = Joe User <user@example.com>
240 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
242 If this option is specified and git-svn encounters an SVN
243 committer name that does not exist in the authors-file, git-svn
244 will abort operation. The user will then have to add the
245 appropriate entry. Re-running the previous git-svn command
246 after the authors-file is modified should continue operation.
248 repo-config key: svn.authorsfile
252 Make git-svn less verbose.
255 --repack-flags=<flags>
256 These should help keep disk usage sane for large fetches
259 --repack takes an optional argument for the number of revisions
260 to fetch before repacking. This defaults to repacking every
261 1000 commits fetched if no argument is specified.
263 --repack-flags are passed directly to gitlink:git-repack[1].
265 repo-config key: svn.repack
266 repo-config key: svn.repackflags
271 --strategy=<strategy>::
273 These are only used with the 'dcommit' command.
275 Passed directly to git-rebase when using 'dcommit' if a
276 'git-reset' cannot be used (see dcommit).
281 This is only used with the 'dcommit' command.
283 Print out the series of git arguments that would show
284 which diffs would be committed to SVN.
294 Used with 'fetch', 'dcommit' or 'set-tree'.
296 This can be used to join arbitrary git branches to remotes/git-svn
297 on new commits where the tree object is equivalent.
299 When used with different GIT_SVN_ID values, tags and branches in
300 SVN can be tracked this way, as can some merges where the heads
301 end up having completely equivalent content. This can even be
302 used to track branches across multiple SVN _repositories_.
304 This option may be specified multiple times, once for each
307 repo-config key: svn.branch
312 This sets GIT_SVN_ID (instead of using the environment). See the
314 '<<tracking-multiple-repos,Tracking Multiple Repositories or Branches>>'
315 for more information on using GIT_SVN_ID.
318 This is especially helpful when we're tracking a directory
319 that has been moved around within the repository, or if we
320 started tracking a branch and never tracked the trunk it was
323 repo-config key: svn.followparent
326 This gets rid of the git-svn-id: lines at the end of every commit.
328 With this, you lose the ability to use the rebuild command. If
329 you ever lose your .git/svn/git-svn/.rev_db file, you won't be
330 able to fetch again, either. This is fine for one-shot imports.
332 The 'git-svn log' command will not work on repositories using this,
335 repo-config key: svn.nometadata
339 COMPATIBILITY OPTIONS
340 ---------------------
344 Only used with the 'rebuild' command.
346 Run this if you used an old version of git-svn that used
347 "git-svn-HEAD" instead of "remotes/git-svn" as the branch
348 for tracking the remote.
351 Only used with the 'fetch' command.
353 By default git-svn will crash if it tries to import a revision
354 from SVN which has '(no date)' listed as the date of the revision.
355 This is repository corruption on SVN's part, plain and simple.
356 But sometimes you really need those revisions anyway.
358 If supplied git-svn will convert '(no date)' entries to the UNIX
359 epoch (midnight on Jan. 1, 1970). Yes, that's probably very wrong.
367 Tracking and contributing to a the trunk of a Subversion-managed project:
369 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
370 # Initialize a repo (like git init):
371 git-svn init http://svn.foo.org/project/trunk
372 # Fetch remote revisions:
374 # Create your own branch to hack on:
375 git checkout -b my-branch remotes/git-svn
376 # Do some work, and then commit your new changes to SVN, as well as
377 # automatically updating your working HEAD:
379 # Something is committed to SVN, rebase the latest into your branch:
380 git-svn fetch && git rebase remotes/git-svn
381 # Append svn:ignore settings to the default git exclude file:
382 git-svn show-ignore >> .git/info/exclude
383 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
385 Tracking and contributing to an entire Subversion-managed project
386 (complete with a trunk, tags and branches):
388 '<<tracking-multiple-repos,Tracking Multiple Repositories or Branches>>'
390 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
391 # Initialize a repo (like git init):
392 git-svn multi-init http://svn.foo.org/project \
393 -T trunk -b branches -t tags
394 # Fetch remote revisions:
396 # Create your own branch of trunk to hack on:
397 git checkout -b my-trunk remotes/trunk
398 # Do some work, and then commit your new changes to SVN, as well as
399 # automatically updating your working HEAD:
400 git-svn dcommit -i trunk
401 # Something has been committed to trunk, rebase the latest into your branch:
402 git-svn multi-fetch && git rebase remotes/trunk
403 # Append svn:ignore settings of trunk to the default git exclude file:
404 git-svn show-ignore -i trunk >> .git/info/exclude
405 # Check for new branches and tags (no arguments are needed):
407 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
409 REBASE VS. PULL/MERGE
410 ---------------------
412 Originally, git-svn recommended that the remotes/git-svn branch be
413 pulled or merged from. This is because the author favored
414 'git-svn set-tree B' to commit a single head rather than the
415 'git-svn set-tree A..B' notation to commit multiple commits.
417 If you use 'git-svn set-tree A..B' to commit several diffs and you do
418 not have the latest remotes/git-svn merged into my-branch, you should
419 use 'git rebase' to update your work branch instead of 'git pull' or
420 'git merge'. 'pull/merge' can cause non-linear history to be flattened
421 when committing into SVN, which can lead to merge commits reversing
422 previous commits in SVN.
426 Merge tracking in Subversion is lacking and doing branched development
427 with Subversion is cumbersome as a result. git-svn does not do
428 automated merge/branch tracking by default and leaves it entirely up to
429 the user on the git side.
431 [[tracking-multiple-repos]]
432 TRACKING MULTIPLE REPOSITORIES OR BRANCHES
433 ------------------------------------------
434 Because git-svn does not care about relationships between different
435 branches or directories in a Subversion repository, git-svn has a simple
436 hack to allow it to track an arbitrary number of related _or_ unrelated
437 SVN repositories via one git repository. Simply use the --id/-i flag or
438 set the GIT_SVN_ID environment variable to a name other other than
439 "git-svn" (the default) and git-svn will ignore the contents of the
440 $GIT_DIR/svn/git-svn directory and instead do all of its work in
441 $GIT_DIR/svn/$GIT_SVN_ID for that invocation. The interface branch will
442 be remotes/$GIT_SVN_ID, instead of remotes/git-svn. Any
443 remotes/$GIT_SVN_ID branch should never be modified by the user outside
447 ADDITIONAL FETCH ARGUMENTS
448 --------------------------
449 This is for advanced users, most users should ignore this section.
451 Unfetched SVN revisions may be imported as children of existing commits
452 by specifying additional arguments to 'fetch'. Additional parents may
453 optionally be specified in the form of sha1 hex sums at the
454 command-line. Unfetched SVN revisions may also be tied to particular
455 git commits with the following syntax:
457 ------------------------------------------------
458 svn_revision_number=git_commit_sha1
459 ------------------------------------------------
461 This allows you to tie unfetched SVN revision 375 to your current HEAD:
463 ------------------------------------------------
464 git-svn fetch 375=$(git-rev-parse HEAD)
465 ------------------------------------------------
467 If you're tracking a directory that has moved, or otherwise been
468 branched or tagged off of another directory in the repository and you
469 care about the full history of the project, then you can use
470 the --follow-parent option.
472 ------------------------------------------------
473 git-svn fetch --follow-parent
474 ------------------------------------------------
479 We ignore all SVN properties except svn:executable. Too difficult to
480 map them since we rely heavily on git write-tree being _exactly_ the
481 same on both the SVN and git working trees and I prefer not to clutter
482 working trees with metadata files.
484 Renamed and copied directories are not detected by git and hence not
485 tracked when committing to SVN. I do not plan on adding support for
486 this as it's quite difficult and time-consuming to get working for all
487 the possible corner cases (git doesn't do it, either). Renamed and
488 copied files are fully supported if they're similar enough for git to
493 gitlink:git-rebase[1]
497 Written by Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>.
501 Written by Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>.