Using git as a source code manager, whenever I need to update a plugin, it is a challenge as I never remember the svn commands. And when I upgraded my computer, I opted not to install svn with the idea of just using git and git svn command.
The workflow is generally:
- clone the svn repo into git — this is usually done once
- Update the readme in the stable tag and trunk to reflect the tested thru version of WP
- Update the plugin and create a new stable release.
Clone the SVN repo to Git
Before starting get the earliest revision number for your plugin. This can be found on the plugin page, under the Development tab. There is a link to the Development Log which will show all the revisions. Note the initial revision number.
<plugin name> => replace with the plugin name, do not wrap the plugin name in <>
-r xxxxx => this is the revision number, replace xxxx with the number from above.
Create the local git repo from the wordpress svn repo. The following command will create a new directory with the name of the plugin:
git svn clone --stdlayout -r xxxx https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/<plugin name>
Change directories to the local git repo
cd <plugin name>
Confirm the git config has the svn-remote paths to trunk, branches, tags:
git config -l
git branch -r (shows origin/trunk)
Now the long part. Fetch all the history from the svn repository. The log-window-size options sets the read buffer. The default is 100 and 1000 is faster for my configuration.
git svn fetch --log-window-size=1000
git branch -r (shows trunk, branches, tags)
Update the Readme on the Stable Tag
To update the readme to show the correct tested thru WP version (or any chnange that is not a new release),
- checkout the stable tag
- make the change
- push to svn
git branch -r (shows trunk, branches, tags)
git checkout origin/tags/<stable tag> (headless)
Make your changes
git commit -am"update tested up to value => 6.0"
git svn dcommit (push to svn stable tag)
Now the trunk & master are out of sync with the tag. Create a git temp-tag branch, merge it to the master and push the git master branch to the svn trunk. Then delete the temp-tag branch
git switch -c <git temp branch name>
git checkout master
Sync the master with the updated stable tag
git merge temp-tag
Sync the trunk with the stable tag (main branch should be tracking to svn trunk)
git svn dcommit
Now clean up the leftover temp tag branch in git. If you need the current trunk or tag, just do another git checkout origin/trunk or /tags/xxxx
git branch -d temp-tag
Update the plugin and create a new stable tag
This section provides the steps to update a plugin code base and push the changes to svn as a new stable tag.
- in git make the changes
- merge changes to main branch
- push the changes to svn
- push the trunk to the new stable tag
Assuming all the changes have been merged to the main branch, the following will push the main branch changes to trunk and then create the new stable tag.
View the existing local svn branches
git branch -r (shows trunk, branches, tags)
git switch main
git checkout -b new-functionality
make changes and commit changes
Merge the changes to master, with –squash to remove intermittent commits from master & ultimately svn
git checkout master
git merge new-functionality --squash
Run the dcommit with -n to verify it is pointing to the correct url
git svn dcommit -n
git svn dcommit -n --commit-url https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/<plugin-name>/trunk
git svn dcommit (push changes to svn trunk)
While in the git main branch, create the new stable tag. This may run a long time in Windows.
git svn branch -t 1.0.9 (where 1.0.9 is the tag name)
And clean up the leftover new-functionality branch in git.
git branch -d new-functionality
Errors while running dcommit
Merge Conflict
If a CONFLICT is encountered during the git svn dcommit, a message like the following will appear.
CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in readme.txt
error: could not apply 783e0b2... add nonce to fix csrf vulnerability
hint: Resolve all conflicts manually, mark them as resolved with
hint: "git add/rm <conflicted_files>", then run "git rebase --continue".
hint: You can instead skip this commit: run "git rebase --skip".
hint: To abort and get back to the state before "git rebase", run "git rebase --abort".
To resolve this, open the file identified in the the CONFLICT line in your editor, resolve the conflict and thengit add <file name>git rebase --continue
This should complete the dcommit
File out of date
If an error like the following is encountered:
ERROR from SVN:
Item is out of date: File '/<plugin-name>/trunk/<filename>' is out of date
then save the changes from master in a new git branch, switch to master, rebase master from origin/trunk, then dcommit from master:
git checkout -b save-master changes
git switch master
git rebase origin/trunk
git svn dcommit -n (make sure committing to svn trunk)
git svn dcommit
After confirming all the changes are in the svn repo, clean up the git repo by deleting the save-master-changes