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I've been working for a couple of years with git and I have become used to constant branching. Each 1-2 day long task usually has its own branch and, of course, if there are preempting tasks, they are developed in separate branches as well. Now I'm joining a project that is managed in SVN with almost no branching. I'm wondering whether there is anything that prevents me from branching in SVN similarly to how I work in git (I cannot use git because of local policies). I mean, is there a technical reason that makes it impractical to create and merge branches all the time in SVN?

FireAphis
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    No, not really. The main difference is that SVN branches are stored in the central SVN repository, and are thus visible by all your co-workers. These are called feature branches in SVN. See http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.7/svn.branchmerge.commonpatterns.html – JB Nizet Jul 01 '12 at 18:21
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    How can they tell if you use a git-svn clone locally? – Carl Norum Jul 01 '12 at 18:22
  • YES there is: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2692950/whats-the-difference-between-svn-and-git-for-merging, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2471606/how-and-or-why-is-merging-in-git-better-than-in-svn/2472251#2472251, http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2475831/merging-hg-git-vs-svn/2477089#2477089 – VonC Jul 01 '12 at 18:22
  • And git-svn is a possible solution, but beware of the caveats: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3322105/easy-merging-in-svn-using-git-svn/3322302#3322302 – VonC Jul 01 '12 at 18:23
  • @JBNizet Have you tried to manage and use the merge features of SVN? I understand FireAphis's concerns. I'd use git-svn myself. – Andrew T Finnell Jul 01 '12 at 18:25
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    @CarlNorum, I guess they cannot, but it's a new place and I prefer to check other options before I start with renegade activities on my first day :) – FireAphis Jul 01 '12 at 18:27
  • I've used SVN for years, and used maintenance and feature branches very often, yes. Sure, git is better at merging. That doesn't make feature branches impossible to use in SVN. – JB Nizet Jul 01 '12 at 18:27
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    @FireAphis, that sounds reasonable, but don't forget that you can be a force for good! – Carl Norum Jul 01 '12 at 18:27

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