Checkout a specific svn release in the local git repository

Question

I would like to checkout a specific check-in just by knowing the svn release number. For example, when I clone a subversion repository to a local git using git-svn clone, I get the following message:

r5119 = 1563c2dcb9f456d5ba1ba2c277bf7969c452d18b (refs/remotes/git-svn)
    M   check-svn.c
    M   Makefile
r5127 = 1b656753fe46287f52f29359793b2d8671137f4b (refs/remotes/git-svn)
    M   check-svn.c
r5129 = edd06d73d270769cc46db58d9a1a0a4683c95be1 (refs/remotes/git-svn)
    M   check-svn.c
r5132 = 39bf8333113f1ccc6b839cf944dd88c560509065 (refs/remotes/git-svn)
Checked out HEAD:
  https://svn.myserver.net/check-svn r5132

So, we can see that the svn release tags are known (r5119, r5127, ...).

What I would like to do is to get back to an old release of the svn repository on my local git clone just by knowing the svn release number. For example, to do something like:

git checkout r5129

And get the code of the svn release r5129 in my local git clone.

My problem is that I don't see how to do this even if I see that the tags are well positioned. For example, when I do a git shortlog as follow:

  git-svn-id: https://svn.myserver.net/check-svn@5119 bb18-a6e4ad0ded21
  git-svn-id: https://svn.myserver.net/check-svn@5127 bb18-a6e4ad0ded21
  git-svn-id: https://svn.myserver.net/check-svn@5129 bb18-a6e4ad0ded21
  git-svn-id: https://svn.myserver.net/check-svn@5132 bb18-a6e4ad0ded21

So, how to do such feature easily (if possible without extra manipulation at the initial cloning) ?

Is this answer helpful to you? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7599707/checkout-the-git-commit-corresponding-to-a-certain-revision-from-the-old-svn-rep — Matthijs P, Sep 15 '13 at 13:50
This is definitely helpful, even if I would have preferred a simpler solution (I don't blame you for that! It's just a naive wish). — perror, Sep 15 '13 at 14:25

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

First of all, I would like to thank Matthijs P who lead me to the solution with his comment.

git-svn has a sub-command find-rev that allow to link a git hash-tag and an svn revision label (see the git-svn manpage for more). So, basically, checking out a specific revision from the remote svn is done like this:

git checkout `git svn find-rev r5127`

Beware, because you won't be on a branch, so if you perform modifications, it will be difficult to merge (except if you rebase it first).

In my case, this is just a read-only access, so this is fine for me.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 15 '13 at 15:29

If you don't like the solution with git svn find-rev, you could try:

git checkout ':/@5127 '

If git is given an string starting with :/ as a revision, it will use the most recent commit where the log message matches the following regular expression. Since git-svn will typically include the revision information in the log message this search can work for that as well. Note the space before the closing quote, that will prevent matching a revision like 51271 if you have that many revisions in the svn history; if you know that the revision you're looking for is recent enough to not have that problem you could leave out the quotes altogether.

Checkout a specific svn release in the local git repository

2 Answers2