Phase out `git svn` support in Git for Windows

[dscho]

Due to persistent maintenance challenges and the community's limited engagement and usage, git svn support in Git for Windows will be phased out over the next few releases.

The recommendation for Git for Windows users who still require a working git svn is to use a Linux version of git svn via the Windows Subsystem for Linux, or to use git svn in a regular MSYS2 UCRT64 setup:

1. Install MSYS2.
2. In the MSYS2 UCRT64 Bash, call pacman -Sy mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-git-svn
3. Then use git svn [...] as per usual.

[jrfnl]

Just a heads-up: I know of at least one big OSS project which is likely to see impact of this: WordPress. They still use SVN, so a lot of the committers commit via git svn.

Note: that this includes plugin/theme authors who need to update their plugin/theme in the wp.org repository...

[dscho]

Just a heads-up: I know of at least one big OSS project which is likely to see impact of this: WordPress. They still use SVN, so a lot of the committers commit via git svn.

Note: that this includes plugin/theme authors who need to update their plugin/theme in the wp.org repository...

@jrfnl thanks for the heads-up. Two questions:

• Are there any WordPress contributors who use Windows computers to contribute?
• If there are any, would they not be better served by using MSYS2 (provided that we manage to move Git for Windows so close to MSYS2 that git svn is properly supported there) or by using the Windows Subsystem for Linux?

I am asking because git svn support is really quite a maintenance burden, and I have seen very little assistance, if that, from the community that seems to require it.

[jrfnl]

@dscho I know for sure there are Windows users amongst that group, but I don't have access to numbers, let alone know the workflows used by people in that group.

Just wanted to raise awareness of potential fall-out.

As a fellow maintainer, I fully understand if you still go ahead if the maintenance burden is that high.

[dscho]

/add relnote blurb Due to persistent maintenance challenges and the community's limited engagement and usage, git svn support in Git for Windows will be phased out over the next few months.

The workflow run was started

[singhyogender756-bot]

gcc multi_calculator.c -o calculator -lm

[dscho]

I guess I should have re-added the deprecation warnings to the release notes...

[dscho]

I guess I should have re-added the deprecation warnings to the release notes...

→ git-for-windows/build-extra#647

[maitrey]

We do use git svn for importing our repositories from svn to git/github. It is very helpful for us to port repositories with history. Could you please continue to support it ?

[dscho]

We do use git svn for importing our repositories from svn to git/github. It is very helpful for us to port repositories with history. Could you please continue to support it ?

@maitrey Is there a chance that you can use the Windows Subsystem for Linux for your svn workflow? Or MSYS2?

I do not want to invest a substantial amount of maintenance to support a feature that benefits a mere few dozen out of the millions of Git for Windows users. You will notice that there have not been any updates to Perl nor to the Perl bindings for Subversion, for the sole reason that historically, it has meant a few days of work for each version update just to get things working again. And only for a very liberal definition of "working": The git svn tests have been broken for years.

Of course, if you invest time in fixing svnadmin.exe, if you invest time in upgrading to the newest Perl version, making sure that its test suite passes, rebuilding Subversion on top, making sure that Subversion's and git svn's tests pass, too, then this becomes a completely different conversation with non-negligible chances that you'll end up getting what you asked for.

[maitrey]

@dscho , Could you please provide an estimated release date? Our development team primarily consists of electro-mechanical engineers who lack software experience, making the intrduction of tools like WSL a significant hurdle and a potential deterrent to adopting Git. I would like to confirm If support is removed, git svn clone would cease to function, correct ?

Are the tests located here : https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/tree/main/t/Git-SVN ?

[dscho]

Could you please provide an estimated release date?

https://gh.io/gitCal suggests that Git v2.52 is scheduled for Monday, November 17th, 2025. Typically Git for Windows follows Git versions very quickly, so I'd expect to release Git for Windows v2.52 on Nov 18 or even 17.

Our development team primarily consists of electro-mechanical engineers who lack software experience, making the intrduction of tools like WSL a significant hurdle and a potential deterrent to adopting Git.

If you are certain that users lack software experience, then they are unlikely to do anything else with Git than you tell them. In that instance, they would be unlikely to clone stuff from anywhere else, and you could let them use an eternally-outdated version of Git for Windows, one that still includes git svn.

I would like to confirm If support is removed, git svn clone would cease to function, correct ?

Yes.

Are the tests located here : https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/tree/main/t/Git-SVN ?

No, the tests are in the t91** range, starting with https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/blob/main/t/t9100-git-svn-basic.sh and ending with https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/blob/main/t/t9169-git-svn-dcommit-crlf.sh.

You can run them as described here.

[MaitreyMishra]

Please do not remove the support for git svn on November 17th. It will be hard for us to meet our deadlines. Please give us time until the end of first quarter of 2026, hopefully then all our subversion repositories are migrated and we do not need this feature.

[maitrey]

Please do not remove the support for git svn on November 17th. It will be hard for us to meet our deadlines. Please give us time until the end of first quarter of 2026, hopefully then all our subversion repositories are migrated and we do not need this feature.