git-svn fetch isn't pulling in the latest versions

Question

When I execute a

git svn fetch

from my repository, it returns nothing and doesn't update even though there are new commits under svn.

[root]# svn log -l 1  http://example.com/trunk/client-resources/resource-pa
    r12958 | ing | 2011-08-22 18:29:57 -0500 (Mon, 22 Aug 2011) | 1 line
    SRGENERAL-1468 adding more arrays for pa
[root]# git-svn fetch
[root]# git log -1
    commit be19ae4c7d1a3c3da6dd90389aebd6d76792cc71
    Author: sltin <sltin@44b83e5a-25ef-0310-8dbe-ee0aa4f92a64>
    Date:   Wed Jun 22 14:30:53 2011 +0000

    Fixing the classpath.

    git-svn-id: http://example.com/trunk/client-resources/resource-common@12406 44b83e5a-25ef-0310-8dbe-ee0aa4f92a64

Note the version differences. The svn log lists 12958 and the git log lists the latest svn version as 12406.

I can do a reset to 12406 and then a new fetch:

[root]# git svn reset 12406
    r12406 = be19ae4c7d1a3c3da6dd90389aebd6d76792cc71 (refs/remotes/git-svn)
[root]# git svn fetch
        M       src/test/java/csl/resource/ioc/AbstractResourceIocTest.java
    r12977 = 1b21f560b0354b28fe1a272d7723b1e6fa90a99c (refs/remotes/git-svn)
        M       src/test/java/csl/resource/ioc/AbstractResourceIocTest.java
    r12978 = bf22ea0151a364eb1ca1af37a7a907d5b5cc7420 (refs/remotes/git-svn)
        M       src/test/java/csl/resource/ioc/AbstractResourceIocTest.java
    r12987 = ce922c2eae07f6c12dbbd4175a9c61055b563ee3 (refs/remotes/git-svn)

And when I check the log versions, they are unchanged.

How do I get git-svn to pull in the latest versions from svn?

Edit:

I found the answer, the svn data is loaded in to an inactive thread that would normally be merged in to the active branch, which doesn't exist in a bare repository. I tried to do a reset, but that needs an active branch too. The final answer was:

git reset --soft refs/remotes/git-svn

Answer 1

git svn fetch only copies new revisions to your local object database, very much like git fetch – both only synchronize object databases. It will not update your branch and working copy. To get the newly fetched changes into your branch, use git svn rebase; it will re-apply all your local changes on top of the latest svn revision.

git svn rebase will do a fast-forward when there are no local commits, so it should not mess with history. Alternatively you could use git merge --ff-only git-svn to fast-forward to the most recent svn revision (and abort when it is not fast-forwardable, i.e. not a direct descendant)

You should only use git svn reset when upstream svn has changed history (svndump/svnadmin) and you need to re-fetch the new commits, but this should almost never happen (otherwise blame the admin!)