Repository usage

Hi all, I have a question related on how to use VCS's, and git in particular.

So, the situation is this: we were using project called Mace (framework for building dist. systems). Up until 1yr ago, it was a monolithic project, contained in one SVN repository. We build a lot of changes on top of original code, but we never synchronized with the main repository. Then, the developers decided to split the repository into 2 parts - public and private. They also switched to CMake, so it was possible to use cmake to build both public and private part in one invocation (although they were in separate directories). IHMO, their idea was quite stupid! Since we now need to synchronize with their code, I don't know what to do... Our code relies on parts of public and private, and build order is also important, so I can't update only one part.

Before I describe what I need, if I use /\ for set intersection, and \/ for union, situation is like this: public/\private = mostly makefiles, public\/private == old mace

Since I need both parts, their complete union, and I need to update to latest code (a lot of performance&bug fixes is there), I thought to use git-svn to create one branch for public, one for private, and then merge both to the same branch. Both public and private contain the same layout, but there are different files in directories. Is this even possible? Is there any better solution?

Thanks, and sorry if I've missed the right mailing list... Nikola