'\" t
.\"     Title: git-cvsimport
.\"    Author: [FIXME: author] [see http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/author]
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.79.2 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 2025-08-22
.\"    Manual: Git Manual
.\"    Source: Git 2.51.0.87.g1fa68948c3
.\"  Language: English
.\"
.TH "GIT\-CVSIMPORT" "1" "2025-08-22" "Git 2\&.51\&.0\&.87\&.g1fa6894" "Git Manual"
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.SH "NAME"
git-cvsimport \- Salvage your data out of another SCM people love to hate
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.sp
.nf
\fIgit cvsimport\fR [\-o <branch\-for\-HEAD>] [\-h] [\-v] [\-d <CVSROOT>]
              [\-A <author\-conv\-file>] [\-p <options\-for\-cvsps>] [\-P <file>]
              [\-C <git\-repository>] [\-z <fuzz>] [\-i] [\-k] [\-u] [\-s <subst>]
              [\-a] [\-m] [\-M <regex>] [\-S <regex>] [\-L <commit\-limit>]
              [\-r <remote>] [\-R] [<CVS\-module>]
.fi
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.sp
\fBWARNING:\fR \fBgit\fR \fBcvsimport\fR uses cvsps version 2, which is considered deprecated; it does not work with cvsps version 3 and later\&. If you are performing a one\-shot import of a CVS repository consider using \m[blue]\fBcvs2git\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[1]\d\s+2 or \m[blue]\fBcvs\-fast\-export\fR\m[]\&\s-2\u[2]\d\s+2\&.
.sp
Imports a CVS repository into Git\&. It will either create a new repository, or incrementally import into an existing one\&.
.sp
Splitting the CVS log into patch sets is done by \fIcvsps\fR\&. At least version 2\&.1 is required\&.
.sp
\fBWARNING:\fR for certain situations the import leads to incorrect results\&. Please see the section ISSUES for further reference\&.
.sp
You should \fBnever\fR do any work of your own on the branches that are created by \fIgit cvsimport\fR\&. By default initial import will create and populate a "master" branch from the CVS repository\(cqs main branch which you\(cqre free to work with; after that, you need to \fIgit merge\fR incremental imports, or any CVS branches, yourself\&. It is advisable to specify a named remote via \-r to separate and protect the incoming branches\&.
.sp
If you intend to set up a shared public repository that all developers can read/write, or if you want to use \fBgit-cvsserver\fR(1), then you probably want to make a bare clone of the imported repository, and use the clone as the shared repository\&. See \fBgitcvs-migration\fR(7)\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
\-v
.RS 4
Verbosity: let
\fIcvsimport\fR
report what it is doing\&.
.RE
.PP
\-d <CVSROOT>
.RS 4
The root of the CVS archive\&. May be local (a simple path) or remote; currently, only the :local:, :ext: and :pserver: access methods are supported\&. If not given,
\fIgit cvsimport\fR
will try to read it from
\fBCVS/Root\fR\&. If no such file exists, it checks for the
\fBCVSROOT\fR
environment variable\&.
.RE
.PP
<CVS\-module>
.RS 4
The CVS module you want to import\&. Relative to <CVSROOT>\&. If not given,
\fIgit cvsimport\fR
tries to read it from
\fBCVS/Repository\fR\&.
.RE
.PP
\-C <target\-dir>
.RS 4
The Git repository to import to\&. If the directory doesn\(cqt exist, it will be created\&. Default is the current directory\&.
.RE
.PP
\-r <remote>
.RS 4
The Git remote to import this CVS repository into\&. Moves all CVS branches into remotes/<remote>/<branch> akin to the way
\fIgit clone\fR
uses
\fIorigin\fR
by default\&.
.RE
.PP
\-o <branch\-for\-HEAD>
.RS 4
When no remote is specified (via \-r) the
\fBHEAD\fR
branch from CVS is imported to the
\fIorigin\fR
branch within the Git repository, as
\fBHEAD\fR
already has a special meaning for Git\&. When a remote is specified the
\fBHEAD\fR
branch is named remotes/<remote>/master mirroring
\fIgit clone\fR
behaviour\&. Use this option if you want to import into a different branch\&.
.sp
Use
\fI\-o master\fR
for continuing an import that was initially done by the old cvs2git tool\&.
.RE
.PP
\-i
.RS 4
Import\-only: don\(cqt perform a checkout after importing\&. This option ensures the working directory and index remain untouched and will not create them if they do not exist\&.
.RE
.PP
\-k
.RS 4
Kill keywords: will extract files with
\fI\-kk\fR
from the CVS archive to avoid noisy changesets\&. Highly recommended, but off by default to preserve compatibility with early imported trees\&.
.RE
.PP
\-u
.RS 4
Convert underscores in tag and branch names to dots\&.
.RE
.PP
\-s <subst>
.RS 4
Substitute the character "/" in branch names with <subst>
.RE
.PP
\-p <options\-for\-cvsps>
.RS 4
Additional options for cvsps\&. The options
\fB\-u\fR
and
\fI\-A\fR
are implicit and should not be used here\&.
.sp
If you need to pass multiple options, separate them with a comma\&.
.RE
.PP
\-z <fuzz>
.RS 4
Pass the timestamp fuzz factor to cvsps, in seconds\&. If unset, cvsps defaults to 300s\&.
.RE
.PP
\-P <cvsps\-output\-file>
.RS 4
Instead of calling cvsps, read the provided cvsps output file\&. Useful for debugging or when cvsps is being handled outside cvsimport\&.
.RE
.PP
\-m
.RS 4
Attempt to detect merges based on the commit message\&. This option will enable default regexes that try to capture the source branch name from the commit message\&.
.RE
.PP
\-M <regex>
.RS 4
Attempt to detect merges based on the commit message with a custom regex\&. It can be used with
\fB\-m\fR
to enable the default regexes as well\&. You must escape forward slashes\&.
.sp
The regex must capture the source branch name in $1\&.
.sp
This option can be used several times to provide several detection regexes\&.
.RE
.PP
\-S <regex>
.RS 4
Skip paths matching the regex\&.
.RE
.PP
\-a
.RS 4
Import all commits, including recent ones\&. cvsimport by default skips commits that have a timestamp less than 10 minutes ago\&.
.RE
.PP
\-L <limit>
.RS 4
Limit the number of commits imported\&. Workaround for cases where cvsimport leaks memory\&.
.RE
.PP
\-A <author\-conv\-file>
.RS 4
CVS by default uses the Unix username when writing its commit logs\&. Using this option and an author\-conv\-file maps the name recorded in CVS to author name, e\-mail and optional time zone:
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
        exon=Andreas Ericsson <ae@op5\&.se>
        spawn=Simon Pawn <spawn@frog\-pond\&.org> America/Chicago
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
\fIgit cvsimport\fR
will make it appear as those authors had their GIT_AUTHOR_NAME and GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL set properly all along\&. If a time zone is specified, GIT_AUTHOR_DATE will have the corresponding offset applied\&.
.sp
For convenience, this data is saved to
\fB$GIT_DIR/cvs\-authors\fR
each time the
\fI\-A\fR
option is provided and read from that same file each time
\fIgit cvsimport\fR
is run\&.
.sp
It is not recommended to use this feature if you intend to export changes back to CVS again later with
\fIgit cvsexportcommit\fR\&.
.RE
.PP
\-R
.RS 4
Generate a
\fB$GIT_DIR/cvs\-revisions\fR
file containing a mapping from CVS revision numbers to newly\-created Git commit IDs\&. The generated file will contain one line for each (filename, revision) pair imported; each line will look like
.sp
.if n \{\
.RS 4
.\}
.nf
src/widget\&.c 1\&.1 1d862f173cdc7325b6fa6d2ae1cfd61fd1b512b7
.fi
.if n \{\
.RE
.\}
.sp
The revision data is appended to the file if it already exists, for use when doing incremental imports\&.
.sp
This option may be useful if you have CVS revision numbers stored in commit messages, bug\-tracking systems, email archives, and the like\&.
.RE
.PP
\-h
.RS 4
Print a short usage message and exit\&.
.RE
.SH "OUTPUT"
.sp
If \fB\-v\fR is specified, the script reports what it is doing\&.
.sp
Otherwise, success is indicated the Unix way, i\&.e\&. by simply exiting with a zero exit status\&.
.SH "ISSUES"
.sp
Problems related to timestamps:
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
If timestamps of commits in the CVS repository are not stable enough to be used for ordering commits changes may show up in the wrong order\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
If any files were ever "cvs import"ed more than once (e\&.g\&., import of more than one vendor release) the HEAD contains the wrong content\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
If the timestamp order of different files cross the revision order within the commit matching time window the order of commits may be wrong\&.
.RE
.sp
Problems related to branches:
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
Branches on which no commits have been made are not imported\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
All files from the branching point are added to a branch even if never added in CVS\&.
.RE
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
This applies to files added to the source branch
\fBafter\fR
a daughter branch was created: if previously no commit was made on the daughter branch they will erroneously be added to the daughter branch in git\&.
.RE
.sp
Problems related to tags:
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
Multiple tags on the same revision are not imported\&.
.RE
.sp
If you suspect that any of these issues may apply to the repository you want to import, consider using cvs2git:
.sp
.RS 4
.ie n \{\
\h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'\c
.\}
.el \{\
.sp -1
.IP \(bu 2.3
.\}
cvs2git (part of cvs2svn),
\fBhttps://subversion\&.apache\&.org/\fR
.RE
.SH "GIT"
.sp
Part of the \fBgit\fR(1) suite
.SH "NOTES"
.IP " 1." 4
cvs2git
.RS 4
\%http://cvs2svn.tigris.org/cvs2git.html
.RE
.IP " 2." 4
cvs-fast-export
.RS 4
\%https://gitlab.com/esr/cvs-fast-export
.RE