Let's say you're working with a team that's using Subversion for version control. The repository has a long history, and you only want some of it. And only one branch. Windows-centric. Here's a guide to setting up a workflow for using Git as a Subversion client.
Installing Git
Git for Windows Git Extensions
Setting Up The Repository
Initializing Git
git svn init
This creates a .git directory inside of the destination directory which tells Git where to get stuff from, but we haven't actually fetched anything from Subversion yet. If you look at the config file inside, you'll see something like:
[core] repositoryformatversion = 0 filemode = false bare = false logallrefupdates = true symlinks = false ignorecase = true hideDotFiles = dotGitOnly [svn-remote "svn"] url = fetch = :refs/remotes/git-svn
Fetch from Subversion
Now let's get the data, but not all of it. Decide which Subversion revision you want to start at, and then:
cd git svn fetch -r :HEAD
This will begin pulling the Subversion repository, starting at the revision you specified. You'll see log messages fly by, indicating files that are being added. Then you may notice some business about compressing and writing objects. This process could take a really long time, depending on how much history you are pulling. Don't be surprised if it's hours.
Making Changes Locally
Make changes. Commit. Repeat.
Pushing Changes Back To Subversion
Updating with any current changes
git svn fetch
Cleaning up commits
git svn rebase -i
Committing to Subversion
git svn dcommit