As we’re migrating away from Subversion to Git, I’m having to learn a
lot about git-svn. Andy has posted a few
articles on this
topic, but I wanted to share a quick tip that I find myself forgetting.
Working with Subversion branches
While you’re hopefully already familiar with how great local branches are with Git, you might not know that you can connect local branches to remote branches in your Subversion repository. This allows those of us who are using Git locally to work against Subversion branches.
I’m going to assume the following:
- Your team is using Subversion
- Your team already has a branch that you’re working in
- Your team is following Subversion directory conventions
(`branches/`, `tags/`, and `trunk/`)
```ruby
- You have Git installed (*with SVN extensions*)
### Checkout the Subversion project with Git
Please visit Andy's tutorial, [Git SVN
Workflow](http://andy.delcambre.com/2008/3/4/git-svn-workflow), for a
more detailed explanation of the following commands.
First, we'll initialize your new local Git repository with `git-svn`.
```text
```ruby
git svn init -s http://svn.yourdomain.com/repos/project_name
Now, you'll change directories to your new Git repository.
```bash
```bash
cd project_name
Let's fetch all previous revisions into your local
repository[^1^](#fn1){#fnref1 .footnote-ref role="doc-noteref"}.
```text
```text
git svn fetch
Great, once this is done... you're **master** (local) branch is linked
to `trunk/`.
### Mapping a local repository to a remote branch
Assuming that your team is working in a Subversion branch on the current
iteration of work. Our team has a naming convention for branches for
each iteration. For example, if we're in Iteration 18, we'll write this
as ITER-018 everywhere (Basecamp, Lighthouse, Subversion, etc...). At
the start of each iteration, we create a new branch with this naming
convention.
For `ITER-018`, the Subversion branch would be located at:
- http://svn.yourdomain.com/repos/project_name/branches/ITER-018
If you were to do a `git branch -r`, you should see `ITER-018` show up
in the list. Now, the one thing that wasn't clear when I first read the
`git-svn` documentation was that you can't just checkout that branch
with one command. In fact, this has tripped me up a few times.
First, you'll need to checkout a new *local* branch. I've opted to come
up with my own convention for *local branches* and in this case, I'll
name it `iter_018`.
```text
```text
git co -b iter_018
So, now I'm in the iter_018 branch, which is local. I'm currently still
mapped to `trunk/`, which isn't what we want. However, all we need to do
is reset where Git is currently pointed to. We can run [git
reset](http://andy.delcambre.com/2008/3/12/git-reset-in-depth) to point
this to the ITER-018 branch.
```text
```text
git reset --hard ITER-018
That's it! Now, the local `iter_018` branch will point to
`branches/ITER-018` in your Subversion repository. This will allow you
to work with your existing repository branch and still reap the benefits
of local Git repositories.
### What about master?
Good question. The `git reset` command that you ran will ONLY apply that
that individual local branch. So, master is *still* pointing to
`trunk/`. This will allow you to have several local branches that map to
remote branches.
## Next Steps...
If you're working with Git already.. great!
If you're working in an environment that using Subversion, `git svn`
provides you the ability to start exploring Git without making your
entire team switchover. Perhaps your a consultant and working for a
client that uses Subversion... no problem!
We're still using Subversion for past client projects and are
considering [GitHub](http://github.com), which [just launched (to the
public) today](http://github.com/blog/40-we-launched) for future
projects. A few of us are already using GitHub for open source projects.
Fun.. I just saw the following tweet pass by as I began to wrap up this
post.
::: thumbnail
[](http://skitch.com/robbyrussell/jeh1/rails-on-github)\
[Uploaded with [plasq](http://plasq.com/)'s
[Skitch](http://skitch.com)!]{style="font-family: Lucida Grande, Trebuchet, sans-serif, Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 10px; color: #808080"}
:::
[Check out Rails on GitHub!](http://github.com/rails/)
### The Gateway Drug... Git reminds me of Cake
### Questions?
I know that I glossed over a few things, so feel free to post questions
and/or tips for others who are looking to dabble with Git.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. ::: {#fn1}
```yaml
You'll likely have problems if you don't have a Git authors file
specified in your git config.[↩︎](#fnref1){.footnote-back
role="doc-backlink"}
:::
