underscore in Subversion branch name

From: Korzynski, Aleksander <aleksander.korzynski@hp.com>
Date: Mar 23, 2011, 12:12 UTC
Message-ID: <4D89E3C7.6060302@hp.com>

Dear Git Support,

I'm cloning a Subversion repository to Git. A bug in Git is triggered by an underscore in the name of one of the Subversion branches.

I use the following command (note: some names are changed):

$ git svn clone https://AAA.FFF.com/svnroot/BBB -s

The process dies with the following error (names changed):

> Found possible branch point: https://AAA.FFF.com/svnroot/BBB/trunk/CCC => https://AAA.FFF.com/svnroot/BBB/branches/DD_EEEEEEE, 100
> fatal: Not a valid object name refs/remotes/DD EEEEEEE
> cat-file commit refs/remotes/DD EEEEEEE: command returned error: 128

Note that in the top line, the name of the branch contains an underscore: "DD_EEEEEE". However, in the middle line, the branch name contains a space: "DD EEEEEE". Apparently, Git at some point translates the underscore in the name of the Subversion branch into a space.

I've had a look at the source code and the process dies inside resolve_local_globs() in the git-svn script. A command at the beginning of that subroutine is:

command(qw#for-each-ref --format=%(refname) refs/#)

When I run the following by hand:

$ git for-each-ref --format='%(refname)' refs

one of the output lines is:

refs/remotes/DD%20EEEEEEE

So it has a sanitised space (%20) at that point already, instead of an underscore.

Git version: 1.7.1

Best regards, Aleksander Korzynski