Problems importing from svn

[kfreeman]

Our svn projects follow the /trunk /branches /tags model, with tags and branches both containing multiple levels. For example, a branch may be /branches/InternalReleases/QA or /branches/CustomerReleases/Customer1. After importing into plastic the branches and tags hierarchies have been truncated - all tags and branches 3 or more levels deep are completely missing. In addition, the plastic database is several times the size of the original svn repository. This leads me to believe that the importer is not able to import nested branches and is also storing multiple copies of the source tree instead of 1 copy + deltas + branch metadata.

After importing into Plastic I see errors in the import report such as:

Cannot perform modifications into files on Plastic SCM labels

On Item: /tags/InternalReleases/QA

Cannot perform modifications into files on Plastic SCM labels

On Item: /tags/ClientReleases/ClientA

Cannot perform modifications into files on Plastic SCM labels

On Item: /tags/InternalReleases/Show

Item cloned, automatic merge of this item will not be possible

On Item: /chooseInstance.asp, branch: MAIN-5fc2d7c8-05e1-4987-9dd9-74eaec7c27eb

Items cloned (1779), automatic merge of these items will not be possible

Under Item: /Catalog, branch: /main/InternalReleases

I have tried 3 import options on our smallest project, each resulting in similar errors. All 3 imports resulted in databases that are significantly larger than the svn repository. The base svn repository is 61MB on disk and contains 1600 revisions. The Plastic backend is on SQL Server 2008 R2.

Import #1 (default settings) created a datafile that used 266MB of storage

Import #2 (default + import labels as branches) created a datafile that used 587MB of storage

Import #3 (none-use root as trunk no branches no tags) created a datafile that used 600MB of storage

Does anyone have suggestions on how I can import the svn source into Plastic? Does Plastic really need 5x - 10X the storage space of svn? I know that I can export the key branches and import them manually into Plastic, leaving the svn repo online for reference. I would prefer not to do so, however.

[psantosl]

Hi kfreeman,

We've been checking your email down here and the problem we have right now is:

- Your structure is not standard according to what we understand as such: /trunk /branches /tags but only "one single level" of branching inside "/branches". AFAIK that's the biggest issue.

- The "size" problem is just a consequence of the previous: sometimes during the import Plastic has to deal with situations that are not standard on Plastic (coming from SVN) and then the structure is not as optimal as it should be if you had started with Plastic from the beginning. We're working on a third generation of importers to get rid of the size issues, but right now that's what we have, I'm afraid. But, it won't grow at the same pace once you migrate and start using Plastic.

I'll ask Ruben to add more comments in the thread in order to help with the first issue.

[ruben]

Hello kfreeman,

The importer is currently not able to use different sources for the branches and tags as it happens in your scenario.

As you know, Subversion doesn't handle real branches or tags, it only handles folders. Branches and tags are a question of meaning for some specific folders.

You can set these specific folders during the import, but the importer assumes one single level, because it can not know if there are one or multiple levels, the depth and structure of these levels, etc.