Switching from SVN to Git: Why We Made the Move and How We Did It

For years, I started my journey using Subversion (SVN) as my version control system. It was reliable and familiar, but as my projects and team grew, I eventually switched to Git. In this post, I’ll share why I made the move, the challenges I faced, and how the transition improved our workflow.

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Why We Switched to Git

1. Branching and Merging

SVN made branching possible—but not painless. Git, on the other hand, was built with branching and merging at its core. Feature branches, hotfixes, and experiments became much easier to manage.

2. Distributed Version Control

With SVN, the central repository is a single point of failure. Git allows every developer to have a full copy of the repository, making work possible even without a network connection.

3. Speed

Git is fast. Common operations like committing, diffing, and checking out branches happen locally, and often instantly.

4. Community and Tooling

Git is now the industry standard. From GitHub and GitLab to CI/CD integrations and IDE support, the ecosystem around Git is rich and growing.

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Planning the Migration

Before touching any code, we planned the migration in detail:

• Audited the existing SVN structure: We mapped out trunk, branches, and tags.
• Cleaned up history: Removed obsolete branches and consolidated the repository.
• Selected tools: We used git-svn for initial migration, then transitioned to native Git usage.
• Educated the team: Held training sessions, created internal documentation, and scheduled Q&A office hours.

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The Migration Process

Here’s a simplified version of how we migrated:

1. Install git-svn:

   sudo apt install git-svn  # Or use brew on macOS

2. Clone the SVN repo into Git:

   git svn clone https://svn.example.com/repo --stdlayout --authors-file=users.txt

3. Preserve SVN commit history:
   The --stdlayout option helps map trunk, branches, and tags automatically.

4. Push to the new Git remote:

   git remote add origin [email protected]:yourorg/your-repo.git
   git push -u origin --all
   git push origin --tags

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Challenges We Faced

• Rewriting history carefully: Some SVN commits had problematic authorship metadata.
• Large binaries: Git doesn’t handle large files well by default. We introduced Git LFS.
• Training: Git has a steeper learning curve. We made sure the team had cheat sheets and real-world examples.

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Life After SVN

The switch to Git has already paid off:

• We’ve adopted a feature branch workflow.
• CI/CD pipelines are more streamlined.
• Developers are more confident and productive with version control.

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Final Thoughts

Moving from SVN to Git wasn’t effortless—but it was worth it. If your team is still on SVN and struggling with modern workflows, it might be time to make the leap.

If you're planning a migration and have questions, feel free to reach out or drop a comment below. We’re happy to share more of our experience.