Re: Status update - version 5.2.2, cvs->git conversion, plans

[Ethan A M. <sf...@us...>]

On Thursday, November 16, 2017 9:19:52 AM PST Daniel J Sebald wrote:
> On 11/16/2017 10:37 AM, sfeam wrote:
> > On Thursday, 16 November 2017 04:23:58 Daniel J Sebald wrote:
> >> On 11/16/2017 12:17 AM, sfeam via gnuplot-beta wrote:
> > 
> >>> cvs->git conversion
> >>> ===================
> >>>
> >>> A snapshot of the cvs repository from 04-November-2017 was converted
> >>> to git with the help of Eric S Raymond [Thanks!]
> >>> Since then we have been evaluating the state of the converted source tree.
> >>> At the moment there are two copies on sf.net, one slightly cleaner than
> >>> the other.  A handful of commits have gone in to these, but it remains
> >>> true that the existing git content on sf.net may be wiped clean and
> >>> re-created from the 04-Nov-2017 snapshot if we find that there were
> >>> annoying but correctable errors from the previous conversion[s].
> >>> So far the "correctable" part has been a sticking point.
> >>>
> >>
> >> I've sent a script file in a previous post that can be used to compare
> >> CVS versions to git versions, about two dozen of them.  One can see
> >> precisely what the differences are (almost all log/RCSid related).  I
> >> described in detail the major discrepancy I've found surrounding version
> >> 4.6.3 in a previous post.
> > 
> > Do you have a script to correct those discrepancies?
> > As I tried to imply, it's the correction stage that seems to be hard.
> 
> No script (I thought that git conversion was already complete, that's 
> why I put SHAs in the sample commands).  Here are steps (all very 
> simple) that can be done after the conversion is complete:

We seem to be talking past each other.
I do not care about further tweaks to the tags or branches.  
Their conversion is sufficiently good.

The remaining issue is incorrectly converted timestamp and author attribution.
I found a script that automates a recipe that is basically

[from StackOverflow]

%%%%%%%%
Assume for clarity of exposition that 03f482d6 is the commit
whose author we are trying to replace, and 42627abe is the commit
with the new author.

Checkout the commit we are trying to modify.
    git checkout 03f482d6

Make the author change.
    git commit --amend --author "New Author Name <New Author Email>"

Replace the old commit with the new one locally.
    git replace 03f482d6 42627abe

Rewrite all future commits based on the replacement.
    git filter-branch -- --all

Remove the replacement for cleanliness.
    git replace -d 03f482d6

Push the new history (only use --force if the below fails, and only after
sanity checking with git log and/or git diff).
    git push --force-with-lease
%%%%%%%%%

However I tried using this recipe to make one change and it failed.
The filter-branch step spit out progress updates for about half an hour
and then died.   Repository too large or too complicated?
Some issue with branch structure that is non-fatal form most purposes
but trips up this specific operation?
Whatever, it doesn't work.

The other alternative is to use reposurgeon during, rather than after,
the conversion.  Bastian was having problems with that path also.

	Ethan