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 a single Subversion
15 branch and git. It is not to be confused with gitlink:git-svnimport[1].
16 They were designed with very different goals in mind.
18 git-svn is 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. git-svnimport is designed
21 for read-only operation on repositories that match a particular layout
22 (albeit the recommended one by SVN developers).
24 For importing svn, git-svnimport is potentially more powerful when
25 operating on repositories organized under the recommended
26 trunk/branch/tags structure, and should be faster, too.
28 git-svn mostly ignores the very limited view of branching that
29 Subversion has. This allows git-svn to be much easier to use,
30 especially on repositories that are not organized in a manner that
31 git-svnimport is designed for.
38 Creates an empty git repository with additional metadata
39 directories for git-svn. The Subversion URL must be specified
40 as a command-line argument. Optionally, the target directory
41 to operate on can be specified as a second argument. Normally
42 this command initializes the current directory.
46 Fetch unfetched revisions from the Subversion URL we are
47 tracking. refs/remotes/git-svn will be updated to the
50 Note: You should never attempt to modify the remotes/git-svn
51 branch outside of git-svn. Instead, create a branch from
52 remotes/git-svn and work on that branch. Use the 'dcommit'
53 command (see below) to write git commits back to
56 See '<<fetch-args,Additional Fetch Arguments>>' if you are interested in
57 manually joining branches on commit.
60 Commit all diffs from a specified head directly to the SVN
61 repository, and then rebase or reset (depending on whether or
62 not there is a diff between SVN and head). It is recommended
63 that you run git-svn fetch and rebase (not pull) your commits
64 against the latest changes in the SVN repository.
65 An optional command-line argument may be specified as an
67 This is advantageous over 'set-tree' (below) because it produces
68 cleaner, more linear history.
71 This should make it easy to look up svn log messages when svn
72 users refer to -r/--revision numbers.
74 The following features from `svn log' are supported:
76 --revision=<n>[:<n>] - is supported, non-numeric args are not:
77 HEAD, NEXT, BASE, PREV, etc ...
78 -v/--verbose - it's not completely compatible with
79 the --verbose output in svn log, but
81 --limit=<n> - is NOT the same as --max-count,
82 doesn't count merged/excluded commits
83 --incremental - supported
87 --show-commit - shows the git commit sha1, as well
88 --oneline - our version of --pretty=oneline
90 Any other arguments are passed directly to `git log'
93 You should consider using 'dcommit' instead of this command.
94 Commit specified commit or tree objects to SVN. This relies on
95 your imported fetch data being up-to-date. This makes
96 absolutely no attempts to do patching when committing to SVN, it
97 simply overwrites files with those specified in the tree or
98 commit. All merging is assumed to have taken place
99 independently of git-svn functions.
102 Not a part of daily usage, but this is a useful command if
103 you've just cloned a repository (using gitlink:git-clone[1]) that was
104 tracked with git-svn. Unfortunately, git-clone does not clone
105 git-svn metadata and the svn working tree that git-svn uses for
106 its operations. This rebuilds the metadata so git-svn can
107 resume fetch operations. A Subversion URL may be optionally
108 specified at the command-line if the directory/repository you're
109 tracking has moved or changed protocols.
112 Recursively finds and lists the svn:ignore property on
113 directories. The output is suitable for appending to
114 the $GIT_DIR/info/exclude file.
117 Commits the diff of two tree-ish arguments from the
118 command-line. This command is intended for interopability with
119 git-svnimport and does not rely on being inside an git-svn
120 init-ed repository. This command takes three arguments, (a) the
121 original tree to diff against, (b) the new tree result, (c) the
122 URL of the target Subversion repository. The final argument
123 (URL) may be omitted if you are working from a git-svn-aware
124 repository (that has been init-ed with git-svn).
125 The -r<revision> option is required for this.
128 This command attempts to detect merges/branches from already
129 imported history. Techniques used currently include regexes,
130 file copies, and tree-matches). This command generates (or
131 modifies) the $GIT_DIR/info/grafts file. This command is
132 considered experimental, and inherently flawed because
133 merge-tracking in SVN is inherently flawed and inconsistent
134 across different repositories.
137 This command supports git-svnimport-like command-line syntax for
138 importing repositories that are layed out as recommended by the
139 SVN folks. This is a bit more tolerant than the git-svnimport
140 command-line syntax and doesn't require the user to figure out
141 where the repository URL ends and where the repository path
145 This runs fetch on all known SVN branches we're tracking. This
146 will NOT discover new branches (unlike git-svnimport), so
147 multi-init will need to be re-run (it's idempotent).
156 --template=<template_directory>::
157 Only used with the 'init' command.
158 These are passed directly to gitlink:git-init-db[1].
163 Only used with the 'fetch' command.
165 Takes any valid -r<argument> svn would accept and passes it
166 directly to svn. -r<ARG1>:<ARG2> ranges and "{" DATE "}" syntax
167 is also supported. This is passed directly to svn, see svn
168 documentation for more details.
170 This can allow you to make partial mirrors when running fetch.
175 Only used with the 'set-tree' command.
177 Read a list of commits from stdin and commit them in reverse
178 order. Only the leading sha1 is read from each line, so
179 git-rev-list --pretty=oneline output can be used.
183 Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
185 Remove directories from the SVN tree if there are no files left
186 behind. SVN can version empty directories, and they are not
187 removed by default if there are no files left in them. git
188 cannot version empty directories. Enabling this flag will make
189 the commit to SVN act like git.
191 repo-config key: svn.rmdir
196 Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
198 Edit the commit message before committing to SVN. This is off by
199 default for objects that are commits, and forced on when committing
202 repo-config key: svn.edit
205 --find-copies-harder::
207 Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
209 They are both passed directly to git-diff-tree see
210 gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] for more information.
213 repo-config key: svn.l
214 repo-config key: svn.findcopiesharder
217 --authors-file=<filename>::
219 Syntax is compatible with the files used by git-svnimport and
222 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
223 loginname = Joe User <user@example.com>
224 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
226 If this option is specified and git-svn encounters an SVN
227 committer name that does not exist in the authors-file, git-svn
228 will abort operation. The user will then have to add the
229 appropriate entry. Re-running the previous git-svn command
230 after the authors-file is modified should continue operation.
232 repo-config key: svn.authorsfile
236 Make git-svn less verbose. This only affects git-svn if you
237 have the SVN::* libraries installed and are using them.
240 --repack-flags=<flags>
241 These should help keep disk usage sane for large fetches
244 --repack takes an optional argument for the number of revisions
245 to fetch before repacking. This defaults to repacking every
246 1000 commits fetched if no argument is specified.
248 --repack-flags are passed directly to gitlink:git-repack[1].
250 repo-config key: svn.repack
251 repo-config key: svn.repackflags
256 --strategy=<strategy>::
258 These are only used with the 'dcommit' command.
260 Passed directly to git-rebase when using 'dcommit' if a
261 'git-reset' cannot be used (see dcommit).
266 This is only used with the 'dcommit' command.
268 Print out the series of git arguments that would show
269 which diffs would be committed to SVN.
279 Used with 'fetch', 'dcommit' or 'set-tree'.
281 This can be used to join arbitrary git branches to remotes/git-svn
282 on new commits where the tree object is equivalent.
284 When used with different GIT_SVN_ID values, tags and branches in
285 SVN can be tracked this way, as can some merges where the heads
286 end up having completely equivalent content. This can even be
287 used to track branches across multiple SVN _repositories_.
289 This option may be specified multiple times, once for each
292 repo-config key: svn.branch
297 This sets GIT_SVN_ID (instead of using the environment). See the
299 '<<tracking-multiple-repos,Tracking Multiple Repositories or Branches>>'
300 for more information on using GIT_SVN_ID.
303 This is especially helpful when we're tracking a directory
304 that has been moved around within the repository, or if we
305 started tracking a branch and never tracked the trunk it was
308 This relies on the SVN::* libraries to work.
310 repo-config key: svn.followparent
313 This gets rid of the git-svn-id: lines at the end of every commit.
315 With this, you lose the ability to use the rebuild command. If
316 you ever lose your .git/svn/git-svn/.rev_db file, you won't be
317 able to fetch again, either. This is fine for one-shot imports.
319 The 'git-svn log' command will not work on repositories using this,
322 repo-config key: svn.nometadata
326 COMPATIBILITY OPTIONS
327 ---------------------
331 Only used with the 'rebuild' command.
333 Run this if you used an old version of git-svn that used
334 "git-svn-HEAD" instead of "remotes/git-svn" as the branch
335 for tracking the remote.
337 --no-ignore-externals::
338 Only used with the 'fetch' and 'rebuild' command.
340 This command has no effect when you are using the SVN::*
341 libraries with git, svn:externals are always avoided.
343 By default, git-svn passes --ignore-externals to svn to avoid
344 fetching svn:external trees into git. Pass this flag to enable
345 externals tracking directly via git.
347 Versions of svn that do not support --ignore-externals are
348 automatically detected and this flag will be automatically
351 Otherwise, do not enable this flag unless you know what you're
354 repo-config key: svn.noignoreexternals
357 Only used with the 'fetch' command.
359 By default git-svn will crash if it tries to import a revision
360 from SVN which has '(no date)' listed as the date of the revision.
361 This is repository corruption on SVN's part, plain and simple.
362 But sometimes you really need those revisions anyway.
364 If supplied git-svn will convert '(no date)' entries to the UNIX
365 epoch (midnight on Jan. 1, 1970). Yes, that's probably very wrong.
373 Tracking and contributing to a Subversion-managed project:
375 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
376 # Initialize a repo (like git init-db):
377 git-svn init http://svn.foo.org/project/trunk
378 # Fetch remote revisions:
380 # Create your own branch to hack on:
381 git checkout -b my-branch remotes/git-svn
382 # Do some work, and then commit your new changes to SVN, as well as
383 # automatically updating your working HEAD:
385 # Something is committed to SVN, rebase the latest into your branch:
386 git-svn fetch && git rebase remotes/git-svn
387 # Append svn:ignore settings to the default git exclude file:
388 git-svn show-ignore >> .git/info/exclude
389 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
394 Originally, git-svn recommended that the remotes/git-svn branch be
395 pulled from. This is because the author favored 'git-svn set-tree B'
396 to commit a single head rather than the 'git-svn set-tree A..B' notation
397 to commit multiple commits.
399 If you use 'git-svn set-tree A..B' to commit several diffs and you do not
400 have the latest remotes/git-svn merged into my-branch, you should use
401 'git rebase' to update your work branch instead of 'git pull'. 'pull'
402 can cause non-linear history to be flattened when committing into SVN,
403 which can lead to merge commits reversing previous commits in SVN.
407 Merge tracking in Subversion is lacking and doing branched development
408 with Subversion is cumbersome as a result. git-svn does not do
409 automated merge/branch tracking by default and leaves it entirely up to
410 the user on the git side.
412 [[tracking-multiple-repos]]
413 TRACKING MULTIPLE REPOSITORIES OR BRANCHES
414 ------------------------------------------
415 Because git-svn does not care about relationships between different
416 branches or directories in a Subversion repository, git-svn has a simple
417 hack to allow it to track an arbitrary number of related _or_ unrelated
418 SVN repositories via one git repository. Simply use the --id/-i flag or
419 set the GIT_SVN_ID environment variable to a name other other than
420 "git-svn" (the default) and git-svn will ignore the contents of the
421 $GIT_DIR/svn/git-svn directory and instead do all of its work in
422 $GIT_DIR/svn/$GIT_SVN_ID for that invocation. The interface branch will
423 be remotes/$GIT_SVN_ID, instead of remotes/git-svn. Any
424 remotes/$GIT_SVN_ID branch should never be modified by the user outside
428 ADDITIONAL FETCH ARGUMENTS
429 --------------------------
430 This is for advanced users, most users should ignore this section.
432 Unfetched SVN revisions may be imported as children of existing commits
433 by specifying additional arguments to 'fetch'. Additional parents may
434 optionally be specified in the form of sha1 hex sums at the
435 command-line. Unfetched SVN revisions may also be tied to particular
436 git commits with the following syntax:
438 ------------------------------------------------
439 svn_revision_number=git_commit_sha1
440 ------------------------------------------------
442 This allows you to tie unfetched SVN revision 375 to your current HEAD:
444 ------------------------------------------------
445 git-svn fetch 375=$(git-rev-parse HEAD)
446 ------------------------------------------------
448 Advanced Example: Tracking a Reorganized Repository
449 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
450 Note: this example is now obsolete if you have SVN::* libraries
451 installed. Simply use --follow-parent when fetching.
453 If you're tracking a directory that has moved, or otherwise been
454 branched or tagged off of another directory in the repository and you
455 care about the full history of the project, then you can read this
458 This is how Yann Dirson tracked the trunk of the ufoai directory when
459 the /trunk directory of his repository was moved to /ufoai/trunk and
460 he needed to continue tracking /ufoai/trunk where /trunk left off.
462 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
463 # This log message shows when the repository was reorganized:
464 r166 | ydirson | 2006-03-02 01:36:55 +0100 (Thu, 02 Mar 2006) | 1 line
467 A /ufoai/trunk (from /trunk:165)
469 # First we start tracking the old revisions:
470 GIT_SVN_ID=git-oldsvn git-svn init \
471 https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/ufoai/trunk
472 GIT_SVN_ID=git-oldsvn git-svn fetch -r1:165
474 # And now, we continue tracking the new revisions:
475 GIT_SVN_ID=git-newsvn git-svn init \
476 https://svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/ufoai/ufoai/trunk
477 GIT_SVN_ID=git-newsvn git-svn fetch \
478 166=`git-rev-parse refs/remotes/git-oldsvn`
479 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
484 If you are not using the SVN::* Perl libraries and somebody commits a
485 conflicting changeset to SVN at a bad moment (right before you commit)
486 causing a conflict and your commit to fail, your svn working tree
487 ($GIT_DIR/git-svn/tree) may be dirtied. The easiest thing to do is
488 probably just to rm -rf $GIT_DIR/git-svn/tree and run 'rebuild'. You
489 can avoid this problem entirely by using 'dcommit'.
491 We ignore all SVN properties except svn:executable. Too difficult to
492 map them since we rely heavily on git write-tree being _exactly_ the
493 same on both the SVN and git working trees and I prefer not to clutter
494 working trees with metadata files.
496 Renamed and copied directories are not detected by git and hence not
497 tracked when committing to SVN. I do not plan on adding support for
498 this as it's quite difficult and time-consuming to get working for all
499 the possible corner cases (git doesn't do it, either). Renamed and
500 copied files are fully supported if they're similar enough for git to
505 gitlink:git-rebase[1]
509 Written by Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>.
513 Written by Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>.