Create a master git repository for multiple git-svn repositories

Question

I have a project which consists of several services, each in their own SVN repository and a build script that checks out each SVN repository as a folder in a single /project directory along with a /project level Makefile to recursively build the whole project.

Visually it looks something like this:

/project
  Makefile
  /service1    # First service (SVN repository)
    /.svn
  /service2    # Second service (SVN repository)
    /.svn
  ...

I am trying to convert the project into a single shareable git repository to collaborate with teammates on without removing the ability to commit back to the original SVN repositories.

My current idea is to check out each SVN repository (/service1, /service2, etc.) using git-svn and then create a master git repository at the /project level to group them into a single repository. The hypothesized project structure would look something like this:

/project
  /.git      # Master git repository
  Makefile
  /service1    # First service (SVN repository)
    /.git      # .git directory for git-svn checkout of service 1
  /service2    # Second service (SVN repository)
    /.git      # .git directory for git-svn checkout of service 2
  ...

Will this work? Is there a simpler solution?

Note: I do not have the authority to redefine the project structure or the structure of the SVN repositories.

There are no .svn folders for a git-svn checkout. Do you need them side by side with .git folders for some reason? — prusswan, Feb 16 '12 at 00:49
@prusswan Nope. I haven't used git-svn much so I didn't realize that it doesn't create the .svn folders. I'll update the question to reflect your observation. — , Feb 16 '12 at 00:51

score 1 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:29

It can work, provided you consider /project as a parent repository referencing the servicexx git repos as submodules.

That way, other collaborators can reference only the parent repo, and get back all the submodules in it.
As explained in "True Nature of submodules", they can then create/checkout branches within those submodules and start modifying them.

Make sure though than one branch is dedicate for git svn dcommit (merge back to SVN):
See "Overcome git svn caveats" and "Easy merging in svn using git-svn".

Create a master git repository for multiple git-svn repositories

1 Answers1