SVN to Git Migration: A Complete Enterprise Guide Without Losing History

The question isn't whether your organization will eventually consider migrating from SVN to Git, but when and how to do it right. After nearly two decades of Subversion serving as the backbone of enterprise version control, Git's distributed architecture and modern tooling have created compelling reasons to migrate. However, for organizations managing years or even decades of critical code history, the prospect of migration can seem daunting.

This comprehensive guide walks you through the entire SVN to Git migration process, ensuring you preserve your complete revision history, maintain business continuity, and avoid the common pitfalls that derail enterprise migrations.

Why Enterprises Are Moving from SVN to Git in 2026

While Subversion remains a solid choice for many enterprise scenarios, several factors are driving organizations toward Git:

Developer ecosystem and talent: The overwhelming majority of new developers enter the workforce with Git experience. GitHub, GitLab, and similar platforms have made Git the de facto standard in open source and modern development education.

Branching and merging capabilities: Git's branching model enables feature branches, pull requests, and modern development workflows that have become standard practice. While SVN has improved its branching over the years, Git's lightweight branches remain superior for rapid iteration.

Distributed development: Remote and distributed teams benefit from Git's architecture, allowing developers to commit, branch, and work offline without constant server connectivity.

Tooling and integration: The DevOps ecosystem has standardized around Git. CI/CD platforms, code quality tools, and development environments offer first-class Git support.

Performance with large teams: Git's distributed nature means individual developers aren't bottlenecked by centralized server performance during routine operations.

However, migration doesn't mean abandoning everything you've built. The key is preserving your investment in history, process, and institutional knowledge while gaining access to modern capabilities.

Pre-Migration Assessment: Critical Questions to Answer First

Before touching a single line of code, successful SVN to Git migrations begin with thorough planning:

Evaluate Your Repository Structure

Single repository or multiple? SVN's conventional trunk/branches/tags structure within a single repository differs fundamentally from Git's one-repository-per-project model. You'll need to decide whether to: - Split a monolithic SVN repository into multiple Git repositories - Maintain a monorepo approach (which Git handles differently than SVN) - Create a hybrid structure based on team boundaries

External dependencies: Document any SVN externals in your repository. Git uses submodules for this purpose, but they work differently and require explicit migration planning.

Binary files and repository size: Identify large binary assets. Git handles binary files differently than SVN, and you may need Git LFS (Large File Storage) for videos, builds, design assets, or other substantial binary content.

Assess Your History Requirements

How much history matters? While preserving complete history is ideal, some organizations with decades of SVN commits choose to archive older history separately and migrate only recent years to Git. This decision impacts migration time and repository size.

Author attribution: SVN usernames need mapping to Git author identities (name and email). Create a comprehensive author mapping file before migration to ensure proper attribution in Git history.

Branch and tag importance: Not all SVN branches may warrant migration. Identify active branches, important release tags, and historical branches that can be archived rather than migrated.

Plan for the Transition Period

Big bang vs. gradual migration: Will you migrate everything at once, or run SVN and Git in parallel? Hybrid approaches using tools like RhodeCode allow teams to work in both systems during transition.

Team training needs: Budget time for developers to learn Git workflows, commands, and best practices. The learning curve is real, even for experienced SVN users.

Downstream systems: Identify build systems, deployment pipelines, documentation links, and other tools that reference SVN repository URLs or revision numbers.

Step-by-Step SVN to Git Migration Process

Step 1: Create an Authors Mapping File

Git requires author information in "Name " format, while SVN typically stores just usernames. Extract all SVN authors and map them:

svn log --quiet | grep "^r" | awk '{print $3}' | sort | uniq > authors.txt

Transform this into a mapping file (authors-map.txt):

jsmith = John Smith <john.smith@company.com>  
mjones = Mary Jones <mary.jones@company.com>  
devteam = Development Team <dev@company.com>

This mapping ensures every commit in your Git history has proper attribution.

Step 2: Clone SVN Repository with Full History

Use git-svn, which comes bundled with Git, to create an initial clone:

git svn clone https://svn.company.com/repo/project \  
  --authors-file=authors-map.txt \
  --trunk=trunk \
  --branches=branches \
  --tags=tags \
  --prefix=svn/ \
  target-directory

For large repositories, this process can take hours or even days. The clone downloads every revision and converts it to Git format. Consider: - Running the migration on a server with good network connectivity to your SVN server - Using --revision to migrate only specific revision ranges if you're archiving older history - Monitoring disk space, as the conversion process requires substantial temporary storage

Step 3: Convert SVN Branches and Tags to Git Format

After cloning, SVN branches exist as remote branches in Git. Convert them to proper Git branches:

cd target-directory  

# Convert remote branches to local branches
for branch in $(git branch -r | grep "svn/branches/" | sed 's/svn\/branches\///'); do  
  git branch "$branch" "refs/remotes/svn/branches/$branch"
done  

# Convert SVN tags to Git tags
for tag in $(git branch -r | grep "svn/tags/" | sed 's/svn\/tags\///'); do  
  git tag "$tag" "refs/remotes/svn/tags/$tag"
  git branch -r -d "svn/tags/$tag"
done

This transformation ensures your branches and tags work naturally in Git.

Step 4: Clean Up and Optimize

Remove the SVN remote reference and optimize the repository:

git remote rm svn  
git gc --aggressive --prune=now

The garbage collection step compresses objects and can significantly reduce repository size.

Step 5: Handle SVN Externals

SVN externals must be manually converted to Git submodules or an alternative approach:

Option A - Git Submodules: If the external points to another repository you control, convert it to a Git submodule after migrating that repository as well.

Option B - Subtree Merge: For external dependencies you want to incorporate directly, use Git subtree to merge the external content into your repository.

Option C - Package Manager: Modern development often handles dependencies through package managers (npm, Maven, pip) rather than repository externals. Consider this transition point as an opportunity to modernize dependency management.

Step 6: Validate the Migration

Critical validation steps before declaring success:

History integrity: Compare commit counts, verify key historical commits are preserved, and check that file contents match between SVN and Git at corresponding points in history.

Branch completeness: Ensure all necessary branches migrated correctly and appear in git branch -a.

Tag accuracy: Verify that tagged releases match SVN tags with git tag -l.

Author attribution: Spot-check that authors are properly formatted and attributed using git log.

Build verification: Check out and build several historical points in the repository to ensure nothing was lost or corrupted.

Advanced Migration Scenarios

Migrating Large Monolithic Repositories

For SVN repositories containing multiple unrelated projects, splitting during migration often makes sense:

Identify natural boundaries: Determine which directories should become separate Git repositories based on team ownership, release cadence, or functional separation.
Use git-svn with subdirectories: Clone only specific subdirectories of your SVN repository:

git svn clone https://svn.company.com/repo/project/component-a \  
  --authors-file=authors-map.txt \
  --trunk=trunk

Filter repository history: Use tools like git filter-repo to remove unrelated history if you initially cloned too broadly.

Handling Binary Files and Large Assets

If your repository contains substantial binary files:

Assess your binary content: Identify which binaries are truly necessary in version control versus those that could be stored in artifact repositories.

Implement Git LFS: For essential large binaries, set up Git Large File Storage before the migration completes:

git lfs install  
git lfs track "*.psd"  
git lfs track "*.mp4"  
git add .gitattributes

Consider splitting assets: Large binary assets might warrant their own repository, managed separately from code.

Maintaining SVN Integration During Transition

RhodeCode's multi-VCS support enables a hybrid approach where some teams continue using SVN while others adopt Git. This gradual migration strategy:

Reduces organizational disruption
Allows teams to migrate on their own timelines
Maintains a single source of truth with unified search and permissions
Provides time for training and workflow adaptation

During the hybrid period, establish clear communication about which repositories are authoritative and when the final SVN sunset will occur.

Post-Migration: Optimizing Your Git Workflow

Establish Git Best Practices

Branching strategy: Implement Git Flow, GitHub Flow, or a custom branching model appropriate for your release cadence.

Commit message standards: Define commit message conventions. Unlike SVN's sequential revision numbers, Git commits are identified by SHA hashes, making descriptive messages even more important.

Pull request workflow: Establish code review processes using pull requests or merge requests, taking advantage of Git's branching capabilities.

Update Infrastructure and Tooling

CI/CD pipeline updates: Modify build and deployment systems to work with Git repositories instead of SVN.

Documentation updates: Update internal wikis, onboarding materials, and development guides to reflect Git commands and workflows.

Tool integration: Configure IDE integrations, code review tools, and project management systems to work with your new Git infrastructure.

Team Training and Support

Workshops and resources: Provide hands-on Git training, create internal cheat sheets, and establish a knowledge base for common Git operations.

Support channels: Designate Git champions within teams who can help colleagues navigate the transition.

Common pitfall guidance: Educate teams about Git-specific concerns like avoiding large file commits, understanding detached HEAD state, and handling merge conflicts.

Common SVN to Git Migration Mistakes to Avoid

Rushing the migration: Taking time for thorough planning prevents costly mistakes. A failed migration can disrupt development for weeks.

Ignoring author mapping: Incomplete author maps result in commits attributed to unknown users, breaking accountability and making history difficult to navigate.

Forgetting about externals: SVN externals won't automatically work in Git. Plan for this explicitly.

Not testing the migration: Always perform trial migrations with repository copies before executing on production repositories.

Migrating everything: Not every experimental branch or decade-old tag needs to come forward. Be selective.

Insufficient communication: Teams need advance notice, training, and clear cutover timelines to avoid confusion and lost work.

Tools and Resources for SVN to Git Migration

Essential Migration Tools

git-svn: Built into Git, this is the standard tool for SVN to Git conversion. It creates a faithful Git representation of SVN history.

svn2git: A Ruby wrapper around git-svn that simplifies the migration process with sensible defaults.

git filter-repo: For advanced repository rewriting, such as removing sensitive data or restructuring history during migration.

RhodeCode Enterprise: Supports both SVN and Git simultaneously, enabling gradual migrations and providing unified management during transition periods.

Validation and Analysis Tools

GitStats: Generate comprehensive statistics about your migrated repository to compare against SVN metrics.

BFG Repo-Cleaner: If you discover sensitive data or need to remove large files after migration, BFG efficiently rewrites history.

RhodeCode's Role in Enterprise SVN to Git Migration

For organizations managing the complexity of enterprise-scale migrations, RhodeCode offers unique advantages:

Unified platform during transition: Host both SVN and Git repositories in a single platform, maintaining consistent permissions, audit logs, and user management across both systems.

Gradual migration support: Different teams can migrate on different timelines while maintaining organizational visibility and control.

Repository management at scale: When migrating dozens or hundreds of repositories, RhodeCode's administrative tools simplify bulk operations and permission management.

Enterprise security and compliance: Maintain audit trails, access controls, and compliance requirements throughout the migration process without gaps in governance.

Hybrid team support: Developers can interact with repositories using their preferred VCS client while the system handles translation and synchronization behind the scenes.

Conclusion: Migration as Strategic Modernization

SVN to Git migration represents more than a technical change—it's an opportunity to modernize development workflows, improve collaboration, and align with industry-standard practices. The key to success lies in thorough planning, preserving your valuable history, and managing the human side of change alongside the technical migration.

Whether you choose a big-bang migration or a gradual transition, the investment in doing migration properly pays dividends in improved developer productivity, better tooling integration, and alignment with modern DevOps practices.

For enterprises with complex SVN environments, substantial history, or hybrid VCS needs, platforms like RhodeCode provide the flexibility to migrate on your terms while maintaining the security, compliance, and control that enterprise development demands.

Ready to start your SVN to Git migration? Contact RhodeCode to discuss your enterprise version control needs, or try RhodeCode to experience unified multi-VCS management firsthand.

Additional Resources: - RhodeCode Documentation - Why Enterprises Still Use SVN in 2026 - Git Version Control System Guide

SVN to Git Migration: A Complete Guide Without Losing History