Improving git-svn documentation

Improving git-svn documentation

[Yann Dirson]

While diving into the git-svn code, I realized that many things could
be done to make it more documented/understundable.  I need to get more
understanding of it, so I'd like to improve this state of things.  But
first, I'd like to be sure there is a consensus on what is a good idea
to do, since that could easily turn up into a lot of textual change.

- (on the user doc side of things) some options appear not to be
  documented (I spotted --parent for 'clone' and --revision for
  'dcommit').  But looking at where to document them, I found it not
  always easy, since some options are documented together with the
  command they modify, some others in the "options" section (even when
  they are documented as applying to a single command, like --shared
  or --stdin).  This IMHO leads to confusion for the user looking for
  information, as well as to the reviewer trying to check that nothing
  was forgotten.  I would rather make that only very commons are
  described in a common "options" section, and that all commands using
  them explicitely say so in their descriptions (with xref).

- (on the code side of things) git-svn.perl weights more than 5500
  lines, most classes functions and methods severely lack
  documentation, and some extensively-used variable names are so short
  they make the code harder to grasp

  Eg. $gs to refer to an instance of the Git::SVN class, which I would
  suggest to change to something like $gsrepo, while at the same time
  renaming Git::SVN to eg. Git::SVN::Repository - which would make it
  much easier for a newcomer to grasp what this is supposed to
  represent - supposing, that is, that my understunding of this part
  is accurate enough, which it is probably not after spending many
  hours in there :)

  As to the size of the file, it seems natural to me to split the
  classes into their own files.  That would still let git-svn.perl and
  the Git::SVN class to be 1500-lines tall, the largest others
  achieving around 500 lines.  That should be much more manageable
  pieces, and would require some refactoring wrt a couple of global
  variables used throughout the script; which, incidentally, could
  make it much easier to simultanously look at several git-svn
  repositories (for my work on mapping externals to submodules), and
  to allow reusing the existing code, eg. as a git-vcs backend.

How are you people feeling about this rough plans ?

-- 
Yann

Re: Improving git-svn documentation

[Marc Branchaud]

I can't comment on the wisdom of your plan, but I do have a hankering to hack that git-svn.perl (to support multiple "branches" paths -- see http://marc.info/?l=git&m=124484360104600&w=2).

As I've quickly gotten lost in two attempts at figuring out how the script supports its --branches option, I applaud any effort to make this thing more approachable.  Thanks, and good luck!  (I'll need it!)

		M.


Yann Dirson wrote:
> While diving into the git-svn code, I realized that many things could
> be done to make it more documented/understundable.  I need to get more
> understanding of it, so I'd like to improve this state of things.  But
> first, I'd like to be sure there is a consensus on what is a good idea
> to do, since that could easily turn up into a lot of textual change.
> 
> - (on the user doc side of things) some options appear not to be
>   documented (I spotted --parent for 'clone' and --revision for
>   'dcommit').  But looking at where to document them, I found it not
>   always easy, since some options are documented together with the
>   command they modify, some others in the "options" section (even when
>   they are documented as applying to a single command, like --shared
>   or --stdin).  This IMHO leads to confusion for the user looking for
>   information, as well as to the reviewer trying to check that nothing
>   was forgotten.  I would rather make that only very commons are
>   described in a common "options" section, and that all commands using
>   them explicitely say so in their descriptions (with xref).
> 
> - (on the code side of things) git-svn.perl weights more than 5500
>   lines, most classes functions and methods severely lack
>   documentation, and some extensively-used variable names are so short
>   they make the code harder to grasp
> 
>   Eg. $gs to refer to an instance of the Git::SVN class, which I would
>   suggest to change to something like $gsrepo, while at the same time
>   renaming Git::SVN to eg. Git::SVN::Repository - which would make it
>   much easier for a newcomer to grasp what this is supposed to
>   represent - supposing, that is, that my understunding of this part
>   is accurate enough, which it is probably not after spending many
>   hours in there :)
> 
>   As to the size of the file, it seems natural to me to split the
>   classes into their own files.  That would still let git-svn.perl and
>   the Git::SVN class to be 1500-lines tall, the largest others
>   achieving around 500 lines.  That should be much more manageable
>   pieces, and would require some refactoring wrt a couple of global
>   variables used throughout the script; which, incidentally, could
>   make it much easier to simultanously look at several git-svn
>   repositories (for my work on mapping externals to submodules), and
>   to allow reusing the existing code, eg. as a git-vcs backend.
> 
> How are you people feeling about this rough plans ?
> 

[WIP PATCH 0/2] Some documentation improvements for git-svn

[Yann Dirson]

This is a first step towards improving the git-svn documentation, as
previously announced.  It is by far not complete, but I'd prefer to here
any objections to the way I change things before I have invested too
much time in this :)

Yann Dirson (2):
  git-svn: add some in-code documentation (options-related).
  git-svn user documentation update.

 Documentation/git-svn.txt |  463 ++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------
 git-svn.perl              |    8 +
 2 files changed, 253 insertions(+), 218 deletions(-)

[PATCH 1/2] git-svn: add some in-code documentation (options-related).

[Yann Dirson]

Signed-off-by: Yann Dirson <ydirson@altern.org>
---
 git-svn.perl |    8 ++++++++
 1 files changed, 8 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

diff --git a/git-svn.perl b/git-svn.perl
index 3301797..e2d5eff 100755
--- a/git-svn.perl
+++ b/git-svn.perl
@@ -71,6 +71,13 @@ my ($_stdin, $_help, $_edit,
 	$_git_format, $_commit_url, $_tag);
 $Git::SVN::_follow_parent = 1;
 $_q ||= 0;
+
+# Option structures here are used to define both command-line options
+# and git-config keys.  They are handled by read-repo-config().
+# Options in mixed case and with only a long form are only for the
+# config file.  All options available from command-line are available
+# as config-file options too, but without any dash in their names.
+
 my %remote_opts = ( 'username=s' => \$Git::SVN::Prompt::_username,
                     'config-dir=s' => \$Git::SVN::Ra::config_dir,
                     'no-auth-cache' => \$Git::SVN::Prompt::_no_auth_cache,
@@ -184,6 +191,7 @@ my %cmd = (
 			  'show-commit' => \$Git::SVN::Log::show_commit,
 			  'non-recursive' => \$Git::SVN::Log::non_recursive,
 			  'authors-file|A=s' => \$_authors,
+			  # FIXME: lacks authors-prog ?
 			  'color' => \$Git::SVN::Log::color,
 			  'pager=s' => \$Git::SVN::Log::pager
 			} ],
-- 
1.6.3.1

[PATCH 2/2] git-svn user documentation update.

[Yann Dirson]

- do not use dash-form for git commands
- review option documentation for init and fetch:
  - list undocumented options
  - move some options to the right command
  - move some options from the generic "options" section to where
    they belong
- document that all options are available through config file
- make formatting more consistent
- various phrasing improvements

Signed-off-by: Yann Dirson <ydirson@altern.org>
---
 Documentation/git-svn.txt |  463 ++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------
 1 files changed, 245 insertions(+), 218 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-svn.txt b/Documentation/git-svn.txt
index ca3fc3d..652c007 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-svn.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-svn.txt
@@ -11,11 +11,11 @@ SYNOPSIS
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
-'git-svn' is a simple conduit for changesets between Subversion and git.
+'git svn' is a simple conduit for changesets between Subversion and git.
 It provides a bidirectional flow of changes between a Subversion and a git
 repository.
 
-'git-svn' can track a single Subversion branch simply by using a
+'git svn' can track a single Subversion branch simply by using a
 URL to the branch, follow branches laid out in the Subversion recommended
 method (trunk, branches, tags directories) with the --stdlayout option, or
 follow branches in any layout with the -T/-t/-b options (see options to
@@ -27,11 +27,10 @@ Subversion updated from git by the 'dcommit' command.
 
 COMMANDS
 --------
---
 
 'init'::
 	Initializes an empty git repository with additional
-	metadata directories for 'git-svn'.  The Subversion URL
+	metadata directories for 'git svn'.  The Subversion URL
 	may be specified as a command-line argument, or as full
 	URL arguments to -T/-t/-b.  Optionally, the target
 	directory to operate on can be specified as a second
@@ -54,28 +53,17 @@ COMMANDS
 	which is the Subversion default. If any of the other options are given
 	as well, they take precedence.
 --no-metadata;;
-	Set the 'noMetadata' option in the [svn-remote] config.
+	Set the 'noMetadata' option in the [svn-remote] config.  See
+	'CONFIG FILE OPTIONS' below.
 --use-svm-props;;
-	Set the 'useSvmProps' option in the [svn-remote] config.
+	Set the 'useSvmProps' option in the [svn-remote] config.  See
+	'CONFIG FILE OPTIONS' below.
 --use-svnsync-props;;
-	Set the 'useSvnsyncProps' option in the [svn-remote] config.
+	Set the 'useSvnsyncProps' option in the [svn-remote] config.  See
+	'CONFIG FILE OPTIONS' below.
 --rewrite-root=<URL>;;
-	Set the 'rewriteRoot' option in the [svn-remote] config.
---use-log-author;;
-	When retrieving svn commits into git (as part of fetch, rebase, or
-	dcommit operations), look for the first From: or Signed-off-by: line
-	in the log message and use that as the author string.
---add-author-from;;
-	When committing to svn from git (as part of commit or dcommit
-	operations), if the existing log message doesn't already have a
-	From: or Signed-off-by: line, append a From: line based on the
-	git commit's author string.  If you use this, then --use-log-author
-	will retrieve a valid author string for all commits.
---username=<USER>;;
-	For transports that SVN handles authentication for (http,
-	https, and plain svn), specify the username.  For other
-	transports (eg svn+ssh://), you must include the username in
-	the URL, eg svn+ssh://foo@svn.bar.com/project
+	Set the 'rewriteRoot' option in the [svn-remote] config.  See
+	'CONFIG FILE OPTIONS' below.
 --prefix=<prefix>;;
 	This allows one to specify a prefix which is prepended
 	to the names of remotes if trunk/branches/tags are
@@ -85,25 +73,83 @@ COMMANDS
 	specified, the prefix must include a trailing slash.
 	Setting a prefix is useful if you wish to track multiple
 	projects that share a common repository.
+--repack[=<n>];;
+--repack-flags=<flags>;;
+--repack-args=<flags>;;
+--repack-opts=<flags>;;
+	These should help keep disk usage sane for large fetches
+	with many revisions.
++
+'--repack' takes an optional argument for the number of revisions
+to fetch before repacking.  This defaults to repacking every
+1000 commits fetched if no argument is specified.
++
+'--repack-flags' are passed directly to 'git repack'.  '--repack-args'
+and '--repack-opts' are aliases for '--repack-flags'.
++
+[verse]
+config key: svn.repack
+config key: svn.repackflags
+
+--shared[={false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody}];;
+--template=<template_directory>;;
+	These are passed directly to 'git init'.
+--minimize-url;;
+-m;;
+	FIXME: to be documented.
+
++
+The following options to 'init' are also available to the 'fetch'
+command:
++
+--
+--username=<USER>;;
+	For transports that SVN handles authentication for (http,
+	https, and plain svn), specify the username.  For other
+	transports (eg svn+ssh://), you must include the username in
+	the URL, eg svn+ssh://foo@svn.bar.com/project
 --ignore-paths=<regex>;;
 	When passed to 'init' or 'clone' this regular expression will
 	be preserved as a config key.  See 'fetch' for a description
 	of '--ignore-paths'.
+--no-auth-cache;;
+--config-dir=<path>;;
+	FIXME: to be documented.
+--
 
 'fetch'::
 	Fetch unfetched revisions from the Subversion remote we are
 	tracking.  The name of the [svn-remote "..."] section in the
 	.git/config file may be specified as an optional command-line
-	argument.
+	argument.  FIXME: not all configured branches are fetched
+	unless '--fetch-all' is specified ?
+
+-q::
+--quiet::
+	Make 'git svn' less verbose. Specify a second time to make it
+	even less verbose.
+
+--fetch-all;;
+--all;
+	FIXME: to be documented.
+
+-r <ARG>;;
+--revision <ARG>;;
+	   This allows revision ranges for partial/cauterized history
+	   to be supported.  $NUMBER, $NUMBER1:$NUMBER2 (numeric ranges),
+	   $NUMBER:HEAD, and BASE:$NUMBER are all supported.
++
+This can allow you to make partial mirrors; but is generally not
+recommended because history will be skipped and lost.
 
 --localtime;;
 	Store Git commit times in the local timezone instead of UTC.  This
-	makes 'git-log' (even without --date=local) show the same times
+	makes 'git log' (even without --date=local) show the same times
 	that `svn log` would in the local timezone.
 
 --parent;;
 	Fetch only from the SVN parent of the current HEAD.
-
++
 This doesn't interfere with interoperating with the Subversion
 repository you cloned from, but if you wish for your local Git
 repository to be able to interoperate with someone else's local Git
@@ -116,20 +162,78 @@ the same local timezone.
 	The '--ignore-paths' option should match for every 'fetch'
 	(including automatic fetches due to 'clone', 'dcommit',
 	'rebase', etc) on a given repository.
-
++
+[verse]
 config key: svn-remote.<name>.ignore-paths
++
+If the ignore-paths config key is set and the command
+line option is also given, both regular expressions
+will be used.
++
+Examples:
++
+	--ignore-paths="^doc" - skip "doc*" directory for every fetch.
+	--ignore-paths="^[^/]+/(?:branches|tags)" - skip "branches" and "tags"
+of first level directories.
 
-	If the ignore-paths config key is set and the command
-	line option is also given, both regular expressions
-	will be used.
+--no-checkout;;
+	Do not checkout the tree after fetching.  Note that this does
+	not make the converted repository a bare one.
 
-Examples:
+--use-log-author;;
+	When retrieving svn commits into git (as part of fetch, rebase, or
+	dcommit operations), look for the first From: or Signed-off-by: line
+	in the log message and use that as the author string.
 
-	--ignore-paths="^doc" - skip "doc*" directory for every
-	    fetch.
+--add-author-from;;
+	When committing to svn from git (as part of commit or dcommit
+	operations), if the existing log message doesn't already have a
+	From: or Signed-off-by: line, append a From: line based on the
+	git commit's author string.  If you use this, then --use-log-author
+	will retrieve a valid author string for all commits.
 
-	--ignore-paths="^[^/]+/(?:branches|tags)" - skip
-	    "branches" and "tags" of first level directories.
+-A<filename>;;
+--authors-file=<filename>;;
+	Syntax is compatible with the file used by 'git cvsimport':
++
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+	loginname = Joe User <user@example.com>
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
++
+If this option is specified and 'git svn' encounters an SVN
+committer name that does not exist in the authors-file, 'git svn'
+will abort operation. The user will then have to add the
+appropriate entry.  Re-running the previous 'git svn' command
+after the authors-file is modified should continue operation.
++
+[verse]
+config key: svn.authorsfile
+
+--authors-prog=<filename>;;
+	If this option is specified, for each SVN committer name that
+	does not exist in the authors file, the given file is executed
+	with the committer name as the first argument.  The program is
+	expected to return a single line of the form "Name <email>",
+	which will be treated as if included in the authors file.
+
+--follow-parent;;
+	This is especially helpful when we're tracking a directory
+	that has been moved around within the repository, or if we
+	started tracking a branch and never tracked the trunk it was
+	descended from. This feature is enabled by default, use
+	--no-follow-parent to disable it.
++
+[verse]
+config key: svn.followparent
+
+--log-window-size=<size>;;
+	FIXME: to be documented.
+
+--username=<USER>;;
+--ignore-paths=<regex>;;
+--no-auth-cache;;
+--config-dir=<path>;;
+	See description above under 'init' command.
 
 'clone'::
 	Runs 'init' and 'fetch'.  It will automatically create a
@@ -137,29 +241,29 @@ Examples:
 	or if a second argument is passed; it will create a directory
 	and work within that.  It accepts all arguments that the
 	'init' and 'fetch' commands accept; with the exception of
-	'--fetch-all'.   After a repository is cloned, the 'fetch'
-	command will be able to update revisions without affecting
-	the working tree; and the 'rebase' command will be able
-	to update the working tree with the latest changes.
+	'--fetch-all' and '--parent'.   After a repository is cloned,
+	the 'fetch' command will be able to update revisions without
+	affecting the working tree; and the 'rebase' command will be
+	able to update the working tree with the latest changes.
 
 'rebase'::
 	This fetches revisions from the SVN parent of the current HEAD
 	and rebases the current (uncommitted to SVN) work against it.
-
-This works similarly to `svn update` or 'git-pull' except that
-it preserves linear history with 'git-rebase' instead of
-'git-merge' for ease of dcommitting with 'git-svn'.
-
-This accepts all options that 'git-svn fetch' and 'git-rebase'
++
+This works similarly to `svn update` or 'git pull' except that
+it preserves linear history with 'git rebase' instead of
+'git merge' for ease of dcommitting with 'git svn'.
++
+This accepts all options that 'git svn fetch' and 'git rebase'
 accept.  However, '--fetch-all' only fetches from the current
 [svn-remote], and not all [svn-remote] definitions.
-
-Like 'git-rebase'; this requires that the working tree be clean
++
+Like 'git rebase'; this requires that the working tree be clean
 and have no uncommitted changes.
 
 -l;;
 --local;;
-	Do not fetch remotely; only run 'git-rebase' against the
+	Do not fetch remotely; only run 'git rebase' against the
 	last fetched commit from the upstream SVN.
 
 'dcommit'::
@@ -167,7 +271,7 @@ and have no uncommitted changes.
 	repository, and then rebase or reset (depending on whether or
 	not there is a diff between SVN and head).  This will create
 	a revision in SVN for each commit in git.
-	It is recommended that you run 'git-svn' fetch and rebase (not
+	It is recommended that you run 'git svn' fetch and rebase (not
 	pull or merge) your commits against the latest changes in the
 	SVN repository.
 	An optional command-line argument may be specified as an
@@ -179,18 +283,17 @@ and have no uncommitted changes.
 	After committing, do not rebase or reset.
 --commit-url <URL>;;
 	Commit to this SVN URL (the full path).  This is intended to
-	allow existing git-svn repositories created with one transport
+	allow existing 'git svn' repositories created with one transport
 	method (e.g. `svn://` or `http://` for anonymous read) to be
 	reused if a user is later given access to an alternate transport
 	method (e.g. `svn+ssh://` or `https://`) for commit.
-
++
+[verse]
 config key: svn-remote.<name>.commiturl
-
 config key: svn.commiturl (overwrites all svn-remote.<name>.commiturl options)
-
-	Using this option for any other purpose (don't ask)
-	is very strongly discouraged.
---
++
+Using this option for any other purpose (don't ask)
+is very strongly discouraged.
 
 'branch'::
 	Create a branch in the SVN repository.
@@ -228,7 +331,7 @@ The following features from `svn log' are supported:
 	supported
 --
 +
-New features:
+Features not present in 'svn log':
 +
 --
 --show-commit;;
@@ -241,7 +344,7 @@ NOTE: SVN itself only stores times in UTC and nothing else. The regular svn
 client converts the UTC time to the local time (or based on the TZ=
 environment). This command has the same behaviour.
 +
-Any other arguments are passed directly to 'git-log'
+Any other arguments are passed directly to 'git log'
 
 'blame'::
        Show what revision and author last modified each line of a file. The
@@ -249,15 +352,14 @@ Any other arguments are passed directly to 'git-log'
        `svn blame' by default. Like the SVN blame command,
        local uncommitted changes in the working copy are ignored;
        the version of the file in the HEAD revision is annotated. Unknown
-       arguments are passed directly to 'git-blame'.
+       arguments are passed directly to 'git blame'.
 +
 --git-format;;
-	Produce output in the same format as 'git-blame', but with
+	Produce output in the same format as 'git blame', but with
 	SVN revision numbers instead of git commit hashes. In this mode,
 	changes that haven't been committed to SVN (including local
 	working-copy edits) are shown as revision 0.
 
---
 'find-rev'::
 	When given an SVN revision number of the form 'rN', returns the
 	corresponding git commit hash (this can optionally be followed by a
@@ -271,7 +373,13 @@ Any other arguments are passed directly to 'git-log'
 	absolutely no attempts to do patching when committing to SVN, it
 	simply overwrites files with those specified in the tree or
 	commit.  All merging is assumed to have taken place
-	independently of 'git-svn' functions.
+	independently of 'git svn' functions.
+
+-;;
+--stdin;;
+	Read a list of commits from stdin and commit them in reverse
+	order.  Only the leading sha1 is read from each line, so 'git
+	rev-list --pretty=oneline' output can be used.
 
 'create-ignore'::
 	Recursively finds the svn:ignore property on directories and
@@ -286,12 +394,12 @@ Any other arguments are passed directly to 'git-log'
 
 'commit-diff'::
 	Commits the diff of two tree-ish arguments from the
-	command-line.  This command does not rely on being inside an `git-svn
+	command-line.  This command does not rely on being inside an `git svn
 	init`-ed repository.  This command takes three arguments, (a) the
 	original tree to diff against, (b) the new tree result, (c) the
 	URL of the target Subversion repository.  The final argument
-	(URL) may be omitted if you are working from a 'git-svn'-aware
-	repository (that has been `init`-ed with 'git-svn').
+	(URL) may be omitted if you are working from a 'git svn'-aware
+	repository (that has been `init`-ed with 'git svn').
 	The -r<revision> option is required for this.
 
 'info'::
@@ -313,159 +421,78 @@ Any other arguments are passed directly to 'git-log'
 	Shows the Subversion externals.  Use -r/--revision to specify a
 	specific revision.
 
---
 
 OPTIONS
 -------
---
-
---shared[={false|true|umask|group|all|world|everybody}]::
---template=<template_directory>::
-	Only used with the 'init' command.
-	These are passed directly to 'git-init'.
-
--r <ARG>::
---revision <ARG>::
-
-Used with the 'fetch' command.
-
-This allows revision ranges for partial/cauterized history
-to be supported.  $NUMBER, $NUMBER1:$NUMBER2 (numeric ranges),
-$NUMBER:HEAD, and BASE:$NUMBER are all supported.
-
-This can allow you to make partial mirrors when running fetch;
-but is generally not recommended because history will be skipped
-and lost.
-
--::
---stdin::
-
-Only used with the 'set-tree' command.
-
-Read a list of commits from stdin and commit them in reverse
-order.  Only the leading sha1 is read from each line, so
-'git-rev-list --pretty=oneline' output can be used.
 
 --rmdir::
-
-Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
-
+	Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
++
 Remove directories from the SVN tree if there are no files left
 behind.  SVN can version empty directories, and they are not
 removed by default if there are no files left in them.  git
 cannot version empty directories.  Enabling this flag will make
 the commit to SVN act like git.
-
++
+[verse]
 config key: svn.rmdir
 
 -e::
 --edit::
-
-Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
-
+	Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
++
 Edit the commit message before committing to SVN.  This is off by
 default for objects that are commits, and forced on when committing
 tree objects.
-
++
+[verse]
 config key: svn.edit
 
 -l<num>::
 --find-copies-harder::
-
-Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
-
-They are both passed directly to 'git-diff-tree'; see
+	Only used with the 'dcommit', 'set-tree' and 'commit-diff' commands.
++
+They are both passed directly to 'git diff-tree'; see
 linkgit:git-diff-tree[1] for more information.
-
++
 [verse]
 config key: svn.l
 config key: svn.findcopiesharder
 
--A<filename>::
---authors-file=<filename>::
-
-Syntax is compatible with the file used by 'git-cvsimport':
-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-	loginname = Joe User <user@example.com>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-If this option is specified and 'git-svn' encounters an SVN
-committer name that does not exist in the authors-file, 'git-svn'
-will abort operation. The user will then have to add the
-appropriate entry.  Re-running the previous 'git-svn' command
-after the authors-file is modified should continue operation.
-
-config key: svn.authorsfile
-
---authors-prog=<filename>::
-
-If this option is specified, for each SVN committer name that does not
-exist in the authors file, the given file is executed with the committer
-name as the first argument.  The program is expected to return a single
-line of the form "Name <email>", which will be treated as if included in
-the authors file.
-
--q::
---quiet::
-	Make 'git-svn' less verbose. Specify a second time to make it
-	even less verbose.
-
---repack[=<n>]::
---repack-flags=<flags>::
-
-These should help keep disk usage sane for large fetches
-with many revisions.
-
---repack takes an optional argument for the number of revisions
-to fetch before repacking.  This defaults to repacking every
-1000 commits fetched if no argument is specified.
-
---repack-flags are passed directly to 'git-repack'.
-
-[verse]
-config key: svn.repack
-config key: svn.repackflags
-
 -m::
 --merge::
 -s<strategy>::
 --strategy=<strategy>::
-
-These are only used with the 'dcommit' and 'rebase' commands.
-
-Passed directly to 'git-rebase' when using 'dcommit' if a
-'git-reset' cannot be used (see 'dcommit').
+	These are only used with the 'dcommit' and 'rebase' commands.
++
+Passed directly to 'git rebase' when using 'dcommit' if a
+'git reset' cannot be used (see 'dcommit').
 
 -n::
 --dry-run::
-
-This can be used with the 'dcommit', 'rebase', 'branch' and 'tag'
-commands.
-
+	This can be used with the 'dcommit', 'rebase', 'branch' and 'tag'
+	commands.
++
 For 'dcommit', print out the series of git arguments that would show
 which diffs would be committed to SVN.
-
++
 For 'rebase', display the local branch associated with the upstream svn
 repository associated with the current branch and the URL of svn
 repository that will be fetched from.
-
++
 For 'branch' and 'tag', display the urls that will be used for copying when
 creating the branch or tag.
 
---
 
 ADVANCED OPTIONS
 ----------------
---
 
 -i<GIT_SVN_ID>::
 --id <GIT_SVN_ID>::
-
-This sets GIT_SVN_ID (instead of using the environment).  This
-allows the user to override the default refname to fetch from
-when tracking a single URL.  The 'log' and 'dcommit' commands
-no longer require this switch as an argument.
+	This sets GIT_SVN_ID (instead of using the environment).  This
+	allows the user to override the default refname to fetch from
+	when tracking a single URL.  The 'log' and 'dcommit' commands
+	no longer require this switch as an argument.
 
 -R<remote name>::
 --svn-remote <remote name>::
@@ -473,39 +500,39 @@ no longer require this switch as an argument.
 	this allows SVN multiple repositories to be tracked.
 	Default: "svn"
 
---follow-parent::
-	This is especially helpful when we're tracking a directory
-	that has been moved around within the repository, or if we
-	started tracking a branch and never tracked the trunk it was
-	descended from. This feature is enabled by default, use
-	--no-follow-parent to disable it.
-
-config key: svn.followparent
 
---
 CONFIG FILE-ONLY OPTIONS
 ------------------------
---
 
-svn.noMetadata::
-svn-remote.<name>.noMetadata::
+All command-line options are also available as config-file items, with
+the same name prefixed by "svn." and with any dash in their names
+removed.  Be aware that for some options it is probably not a good
+idea to use them in the config file, and you should probably only use
+the config keys explicitely mentionned in this manual.  If you find
+one useful, but don't see it mentionned together with the
+corresponding option, please mention this on the git mailing list.
 
-This gets rid of the 'git-svn-id:' lines at the end of every commit.
+The extra options described below are not available directly from the
+command-line, although some of them can be set by specific flags at
+repository initialization.
 
-If you lose your .git/svn/git-svn/.rev_db file, 'git-svn' will not
+svn.noMetadata::
+svn-remote.<name>.noMetadata::
+	This gets rid of the 'git-svn-id:' lines at the end of every commit.
++
+If you lose your .git/svn/git-svn/.rev_db file, 'git svn' will not
 be able to rebuild it and you won't be able to fetch again,
 either.  This is fine for one-shot imports.
-
-The 'git-svn log' command will not work on repositories using
++
+The 'git svn log' command will not work on repositories using
 this, either.  Using this conflicts with the 'useSvmProps'
 option for (hopefully) obvious reasons.
 
 svn.useSvmProps::
 svn-remote.<name>.useSvmProps::
-
-This allows 'git-svn' to re-map repository URLs and UUIDs from
-mirrors created using SVN::Mirror (or svk) for metadata.
-
+	This allows 'git svn' to re-map repository URLs and UUIDs from
+	mirrors created using SVN::Mirror (or svk) for metadata.
++
 If an SVN revision has a property, "svm:headrev", it is likely
 that the revision was created by SVN::Mirror (also used by SVK).
 The property contains a repository UUID and a revision.  We want
@@ -522,23 +549,23 @@ svn-remote.<name>.useSvnsyncprops::
 
 svn-remote.<name>.rewriteRoot::
 	This allows users to create repositories from alternate
-	URLs.  For example, an administrator could run 'git-svn' on the
+	URLs.  For example, an administrator could run 'git svn' on the
 	server locally (accessing via file://) but wish to distribute
 	the repository with a public http:// or svn:// URL in the
 	metadata so users of it will see the public URL.
 
 svn.brokenSymlinkWorkaround::
-This disables potentially expensive checks to workaround broken symlinks
-checked into SVN by broken clients.  Set this option to "false" if you
-track a SVN repository with many empty blobs that are not symlinks.
-This option may be changed while "git-svn" is running and take effect on
-the next revision fetched.  If unset, git-svn assumes this option to be
-"true".
+	This disables potentially expensive checks to workaround
+	broken symlinks checked into SVN by broken clients.  Set this
+	option to "false" if you track a SVN repository with many
+	empty blobs that are not symlinks.  This option may be changed
+	while 'git svn' is running and take effect on the next
+	revision fetched.  If unset, 'git svn' assumes this option to be
+	"true".
 
---
 
 Since the noMetadata, rewriteRoot, useSvnsyncProps and useSvmProps
-options all affect the metadata generated and used by 'git-svn'; they
+options all affect the metadata generated and used by 'git svn'; they
 *must* be set in the configuration file before any history is imported
 and these settings should never be changed once they are set.
 
@@ -556,7 +583,7 @@ Tracking and contributing to the trunk of a Subversion-managed project:
 	git svn clone http://svn.example.com/project/trunk
 # Enter the newly cloned directory:
 	cd trunk
-# You should be on master branch, double-check with git-branch
+# You should be on master branch, double-check with 'git branch'
 	git branch
 # Do some work and commit locally to git:
 	git commit ...
@@ -587,12 +614,12 @@ Tracking and contributing to an entire Subversion-managed project
 # of dcommit/rebase/show-ignore should be the same as above.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-The initial 'git-svn clone' can be quite time-consuming
+The initial 'git svn clone' can be quite time-consuming
 (especially for large Subversion repositories). If multiple
 people (or one person with multiple machines) want to use
-'git-svn' to interact with the same Subversion repository, you can
-do the initial 'git-svn clone' to a repository on a server and
-have each person clone that repository with 'git-clone':
+'git svn' to interact with the same Subversion repository, you can
+do the initial 'git svn clone' to a repository on a server and
+have each person clone that repository with 'git clone':
 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Do the initial import on a server
@@ -606,7 +633,7 @@ have each person clone that repository with 'git-clone':
 	git fetch
 # Create a local branch from one of the branches just fetched
 	git checkout -b master FETCH_HEAD
-# Initialize git-svn locally (be sure to use the same URL and -T/-b/-t options as were used on server)
+# Initialize 'git svn' locally (be sure to use the same URL and -T/-b/-t options as were used on server)
 	git svn init http://svn.example.com/project
 # Pull the latest changes from Subversion
 	git svn rebase
@@ -615,7 +642,7 @@ have each person clone that repository with 'git-clone':
 REBASE VS. PULL/MERGE
 ---------------------
 
-Originally, 'git-svn' recommended that the 'remotes/git-svn' branch be
+Originally, 'git svn' recommended that the 'remotes/git-svn' branch be
 pulled or merged from.  This is because the author favored
 `git svn set-tree B` to commit a single head rather than the
 `git svn set-tree A..B` notation to commit multiple commits.
@@ -630,7 +657,7 @@ previous commits in SVN.
 DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
 -----------------
 Merge tracking in Subversion is lacking and doing branched development
-with Subversion can be cumbersome as a result.  While 'git-svn' can track
+with Subversion can be cumbersome as a result.  While 'git svn' can track
 copy history (including branches and tags) for repositories adopting a
 standard layout, it cannot yet represent merge history that happened
 inside git back upstream to SVN users.  Therefore it is advised that
@@ -641,25 +668,25 @@ CAVEATS
 -------
 
 For the sake of simplicity and interoperating with a less-capable system
-(SVN), it is recommended that all 'git-svn' users clone, fetch and dcommit
-directly from the SVN server, and avoid all 'git-clone'/'pull'/'merge'/'push'
+(SVN), it is recommended that all 'git svn' users clone, fetch and dcommit
+directly from the SVN server, and avoid all 'git clone'/'pull'/'merge'/'push'
 operations between git repositories and branches.  The recommended
 method of exchanging code between git branches and users is
-'git-format-patch' and 'git-am', or just 'dcommit'ing to the SVN repository.
+'git format-patch' and 'git am', or just 'dcommit'ing to the SVN repository.
 
-Running 'git-merge' or 'git-pull' is NOT recommended on a branch you
+Running 'git merge' or 'git pull' is NOT recommended on a branch you
 plan to 'dcommit' from.  Subversion does not represent merges in any
 reasonable or useful fashion; so users using Subversion cannot see any
 merges you've made.  Furthermore, if you merge or pull from a git branch
 that is a mirror of an SVN branch, 'dcommit' may commit to the wrong
 branch.
 
-'git-clone' does not clone branches under the refs/remotes/ hierarchy or
-any 'git-svn' metadata, or config.  So repositories created and managed with
-using 'git-svn' should use 'rsync' for cloning, if cloning is to be done
+'git clone' does not clone branches under the refs/remotes/ hierarchy or
+any 'git svn' metadata, or config.  So repositories created and managed with
+using 'git svn' should use 'rsync' for cloning, if cloning is to be done
 at all.
 
-Since 'dcommit' uses rebase internally, any git branches you 'git-push' to
+Since 'dcommit' uses rebase internally, any git branches you 'git push' to
 before 'dcommit' on will require forcing an overwrite of the existing ref
 on the remote repository.  This is generally considered bad practice,
 see the linkgit:git-push[1] documentation for details.
@@ -685,7 +712,7 @@ for git to detect them.
 CONFIGURATION
 -------------
 
-'git-svn' stores [svn-remote] configuration information in the
+'git svn' stores [svn-remote] configuration information in the
 repository .git/config file.  It is similar the core git
 [remote] sections except 'fetch' keys do not accept glob
 arguments; but they are instead handled by the 'branches'
@@ -706,7 +733,7 @@ Keep in mind that the '\*' (asterisk) wildcard of the local ref
 however the remote wildcard may be anywhere as long as it's an
 independent path component (surrounded by '/' or EOL).   This
 type of configuration is not automatically created by 'init' and
-should be manually entered with a text-editor or using 'git-config'.
+should be manually entered with a text-editor or using 'git config'.
 
 SEE ALSO
 --------
-- 
1.6.3.1

Re: [PATCH 1/2] git-svn: add some in-code documentation (options-related).

[Junio C Hamano]

Yann Dirson <ydirson@altern.org> writes:

> +# Option structures here are used to define both command-line options
> +# and git-config keys.  They are handled by read-repo-config().
> +# Options in mixed case and with only a long form are only for the
> +# config file.  All options available from command-line are available
> +# as config-file options too, but without any dash in their names.

Hmm... I am a bit confused.  So for example:

		'authors-file|A=s' => \$_authors,
		'authors-prog=s' => \$_authors_prog,
		'repack:i' => \$Git::SVN::_repack,
		'noMetadata' => \$Git::SVN::_no_metadata,
		'useSvmProps' => \$Git::SVN::_use_svm_props,

authors-file, authors-prog and repack are not MixdCase (and the first and
third are not even "only a long form"), so it is not "only for the config
file".  But noMetadata and useSvmProps are "only for the config file".

It took me a bit to realize that these two equivalence hold:

  "not only for the config file" === "also available as command line option"
  "only for the config file"     === "cannot be given on the command line"

Since "option structures here are used for both command and config", and
"anything usable from command line can be used in config file", logically
it follows that "everything in these option structures here are usable in
the config".  It took me a bit longer than necessary for that to click,
too.

Perhaps I am slow.  But I suspect I am not the slowest around here.

After scratching my head for a few minutes, here is a rephrased
description I came up with (I am not writing this as an improved
suggestion, but to ask you to sanity check if I read what you wanted to
say correctly):

    These are all configurable in the config file (remove dash in their
    names to use these names as the config key).

    Options that have MixedCase names without short format (e.g. noMetadata)
    can only be used from the configuration (iow they cannot be given from
    the command line as options).

But then this raises a couple of questions.

 * What are the examples of MixedCase names that do have short format?
   Are they usable from the command line?

 * %fc_opts() has "noMetadata" and %init_opts() has "no-metadata"; how are
   they related, and how do they affect the above "what's available where
   and how to spell their names" rule you outlined?

Re: [PATCH 1/2] git-svn: add some in-code documentation (options-related).

[Yann Dirson]

On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 04:48:30PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Yann Dirson <ydirson@altern.org> writes:
> 
> > +# Option structures here are used to define both command-line options
> > +# and git-config keys.  They are handled by read-repo-config().
> > +# Options in mixed case and with only a long form are only for the
> > +# config file.  All options available from command-line are available
> > +# as config-file options too, but without any dash in their names.
> 
> Hmm... I am a bit confused.  So for example:
> 
> 		'authors-file|A=s' => \$_authors,
> 		'authors-prog=s' => \$_authors_prog,
> 		'repack:i' => \$Git::SVN::_repack,
> 		'noMetadata' => \$Git::SVN::_no_metadata,
> 		'useSvmProps' => \$Git::SVN::_use_svm_props,
> 
> authors-file, authors-prog and repack are not MixdCase (and the first and
> third are not even "only a long form"), so it is not "only for the config
> file".  But noMetadata and useSvmProps are "only for the config file".
> 
> It took me a bit to realize that these two equivalence hold:
> 
>   "not only for the config file" === "also available as command line option"
>   "only for the config file"     === "cannot be given on the command line"
> 
> Since "option structures here are used for both command and config", and
> "anything usable from command line can be used in config file", logically
> it follows that "everything in these option structures here are usable in
> the config".  It took me a bit longer than necessary for that to click,
> too.

Right, that should probably be emphasized more.  I originally did not
realize that those also drive config-file settings, right after I
discovered how the config items are handled, and this clearly shows :)


> After scratching my head for a few minutes, here is a rephrased
> description I came up with (I am not writing this as an improved
> suggestion, but to ask you to sanity check if I read what you wanted to
> say correctly):
> 
>     These are all configurable in the config file (remove dash in their
>     names to use these names as the config key).
> 
>     Options that have MixedCase names without short format (e.g. noMetadata)
>     can only be used from the configuration (iow they cannot be given from
>     the command line as options).

That's what I had got from comments in read_repo_config() and tried to
convey in this comment.

> But then this raises a couple of questions.
> 
>  * What are the examples of MixedCase names that do have short format?
>    Are they usable from the command line?

There are no such example, and I suspect this restriction was only
mentionned for completeness, as a consequence that config-only items
are defined in the code by containing only letters and at least one
uppercase (that is, the real condition also encompasses uppercase-only
items).  I'll try to bring a better formulation.


>  * %fc_opts() has "noMetadata" and %init_opts() has "no-metadata"; how are
>    they related, and how do they affect the above "what's available where
>    and how to spell their names" rule you outlined?

The mixed-case versions are the config items, and the dashed versions
are used by "git svn init" to seed these items at init/clone time, so
one does not have to use "git svn init", then set config, and only
then doing initial fetch.

As a consequence, one can set eg. svn.nometadata in his ~/.gitconfig,
and subsequently have all git-svn-cloned repository initialized with
svn.noMetadata.  That's probably not an example of clarity, and things
being error-prone, such an example in the doc would probably be
welcomed; I can add this too.


Speaking about the doc, I was wondering whether it would not be better
to split my previous patch into 1/3 formatting issues (patch which
could probably be applied early), 2/3 shuffling existing options to
the right place, 3/3 adding missing options.  Afterwards more work can
be done for clarification, but that is not my primary goal, I'd rather
try to document the internals first.

Re: Improving git-svn documentation

[Eric Wong]

Yann Dirson <ydirson@altern.org> wrote:
> While diving into the git-svn code, I realized that many things could
> be done to make it more documented/understundable.  I need to get more
> understanding of it, so I'd like to improve this state of things.  But
> first, I'd like to be sure there is a consensus on what is a good idea
> to do, since that could easily turn up into a lot of textual change.
> 
> - (on the user doc side of things) some options appear not to be
>   documented (I spotted --parent for 'clone' and --revision for
>   'dcommit').  But looking at where to document them, I found it not
>   always easy, since some options are documented together with the
>   command they modify, some others in the "options" section (even when
>   they are documented as applying to a single command, like --shared
>   or --stdin).  This IMHO leads to confusion for the user looking for
>   information, as well as to the reviewer trying to check that nothing
>   was forgotten.  I would rather make that only very commons are
>   described in a common "options" section, and that all commands using
>   them explicitely say so in their descriptions (with xref).

Sadly I haven't ever done much maintenance on the documentation myself.
I've found building/formatting the docs too painful of an experience for
me (this coming from a guy willing to deal with SVN) so I haven't made
many attempts in several years.

> - (on the code side of things) git-svn.perl weights more than 5500
>   lines, most classes functions and methods severely lack
>   documentation, and some extensively-used variable names are so short
>   they make the code harder to grasp
> 
>   Eg. $gs to refer to an instance of the Git::SVN class, which I would
>   suggest to change to something like $gsrepo, while at the same time
>   renaming Git::SVN to eg. Git::SVN::Repository - which would make it
>   much easier for a newcomer to grasp what this is supposed to
>   represent - supposing, that is, that my understunding of this part
>   is accurate enough, which it is probably not after spending many
>   hours in there :)

I think I was at least fairly consistent with naming most Git::SVN
objects $gs, at least (and vectors are "$gsv" (a la arg => argv).  But I
do admit it's not the easiest code to follow since the majority of it
was written in a short time span in early 2007 before I was to
(knowingly) embark on other life-changing (or life-consuming :)
projects.  I seem to recall most of my time was spent dealing
with/working around various issues I had with SVN Perl bindings, but
I've probably blocked out the most traumatizing experiences.

>   As to the size of the file, it seems natural to me to split the
>   classes into their own files.  That would still let git-svn.perl and
>   the Git::SVN class to be 1500-lines tall, the largest others
>   achieving around 500 lines.  That should be much more manageable
>   pieces, and would require some refactoring wrt a couple of global
>   variables used throughout the script; which, incidentally, could
>   make it much easier to simultanously look at several git-svn
>   repositories (for my work on mapping externals to submodules), and
>   to allow reusing the existing code, eg. as a git-vcs backend.
> 
> How are you people feeling about this rough plans ?

I've been planning on splitting git-svn.perl out into separate modules
for years now.  Please take the lead on it if you wish to, since I've
obviously been unable to dedicate much time to git-svn in over two years
now.

-- 
Eric Wong