Pushing an existing Git repository to SVN

I needed this as well, and with the help of Bombe's answer + some fiddling around, I got it working. Here's the recipe:

Import Git -> Subversion

1. cd /path/to/git/localrepo
2. svn mkdir --parents protocol:///path/to/repo/PROJECT/trunk -m "Importing git repo"
3. git svn init protocol:///path/to/repo/PROJECT -s
4. git svn fetch
5. git rebase origin/trunk
5.1.  git status
5.2.  git add (conflicted-files)
5.3.  git rebase --continue
5.4.  (repeat 5.1.)
6. git svn dcommit

After #3 you'll get a cryptic message like this:

Using higher level of URL: protocol:///path/to/repo/PROJECT => protocol:///path/to/repo

Just ignore that.

When you run #5, you might get conflicts. Resolve these by adding files with state "unmerged" and resuming rebase. Eventually, you'll be done; then sync back to the SVN repository, using dcommit. That's all.

Keeping repositories in sync

You can now synchronise from SVN to Git, using the following commands:

git svn fetch
git rebase trunk

And to synchronise from Git to SVN, use:

git svn dcommit

Final note

You might want to try this out on a local copy, before applying to a live repository. You can make a copy of your Git repository to a temporary place; simply use cp -r, as all data is in the repository itself. You can then set up a file-based testing repository, using:

svnadmin create /home/name/tmp/test-repo

And check a working copy out, using:

svn co file:///home/name/tmp/test-repo svn-working-copy

That'll allow you to play around with things before making any lasting changes.

Addendum: If you mess up git svn init

If you accidentally run git svn init with the wrong URL, and you weren't smart enough to take a backup of your work (don't ask ...), you can't just run the same command again. You can however undo the changes by issuing:

rm -rf .git/svn
edit .git/config

And remove the section [svn-remote "svn"] section.

You can then run git svn init anew.


Create a new directory in the Subversion repository for your project.

# svn mkdir --parents svn://ip/path/project/trunk

Change to your Git-managed project and initialize git-svn.

# git svn init svn://ip/path/project -s
# git svn fetch

This will create a single commit because your SVN project directory is still empty. Now rebase everything on that commit, git svn dcommit and you should be done. It will seriously mess up your commit dates, though.


Using git rebase directly will lose the first commit. Git treats it different and can't rebase it.

There is a procedure that will preserve full history: http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/git/2008/10/26/3815034

I will transcribe the solution here, but credits are for Björn.

Initialize git-svn:

git svn init -s --prefix=svn/ https://svn/svn/SANDBOX/warren/test2

The --prefix gives you remote tracking branches like "svn/trunk" which is nice because you don't get ambiguous names if you call your local branch just "trunk" then. And -s is a shortcut for the standard trunk/tags/branches layout.

Fetch the initial stuff from SVN:

git svn fetch

Now look up the hash of your root commit (should show a single commit):

git rev-list --parents master | grep '^.\{40\}$'

Then get the hash of the empty trunk commit:

git rev-parse svn/trunk

Create the graft:

git replace --graft <root-commit-hash> <svn-trunk-commit-hash>

Now, "gitk" should show svn/trunk as the first commit on which your master branch is based.

Make the graft permanent:

git filter-branch -- ^svn/trunk --all

Drop the graft:

git replace -d <root-commit-hash>

gitk should still show svn/trunk in the ancestry of master.

Linearize your history on top of trunk:

git svn rebase

And now "git svn dcommit -n" should tell you that it is going to commit to trunk.

git svn dcommit

Here's how we made it work:

Clone your Git repository somewhere on your machine.

Open .git/config and add the following (from Maintaining a read-only SVN mirror of a Git repository):

[svn-remote "svn"]
    url = https://your.svn.repo
    fetch = :refs/remotes/git-svn

Now, from a console window, type these:

git svn fetch svn
git checkout -b svn git-svn
git merge master

Now, if it breaks here for whatever reason, type these three lines:

git checkout --theirs .
git add .
git commit -m "some message"

And finally, you can commit to SVN:

git svn dcommit

Note: I always scrap that folder afterwards.

Tags:

Svn

Git

Git Svn