Migrate a SVN repository to Git preserving tags

I've used SVN for code versioning for as long as I can remember. Both on Windows as on Linux, it has been perfect to manage and store source code and documents, especially in a context where few users commit changes and public access is only considered at the later stages of a project. In the MUSIC project the context has been quite different, there's a multitude of code projects that compose a larger system and public access to the code has been a requirement early on. One of my collegues suggested us to start using Git for the purpose. I remember when initialy reading about it that Git was like colour TV, once you've seen it you'd never want to go back. Although Git is far more complex than SVN, making it easier to mess up, it is indeed quite more powerful. Beyond that, the GitHub web/social repository gives coding a whole new meaning.

So here's a use case: migrate a local SVN repositoy to Git, correctly keeping tags identifying releases and then push it to GitHub. This happened to be not so easy, so here's this log entry for future reference.

Thomas Zwijsen - 2013 - Nylon Maiden

Oh no! not another Iron Maiden tribute. That's the case but there are great differences between this tribute and previous works that make it deserve this highlight. First of all it is not issued by a collection of old school rock bands trying to boost their retirement, nor a mangle of unknown wannabe tribute musicians. Neither does it come from established musicians in other genres that want to venture into the rock world and cash in dividends. And in second place because this LP avoids being the same boring parcours through the old school radio hit list.

Thomas Zwijsen is a very young classical guitar student that happens to be an Iron Maiden fan. He has studied Flamenco, Jazz and Classical, already achieving remarkable technical capacities. About one year ago he started producing arrangements of his favourite songs for the classical guitar; he uploaded some home recordings to YouTube and showed to his friends. A couple million views later he decided to go to studio and record these tracks properly; the end result is Nylon Maiden, released earlier this month and reviewed below.

Ubuntu phone OS: a glimpse of the future

I came late to the laptop world. A couple of years into my first job I inherited a battered portable machine from a senior colleague. It weighted over 3 Kg and had a 14 inch screen, but had a profound impact on my relation with computers. It had all the CPU power I needed for my work and in a backpack it could be carried everywhere. Beyond that, at home I could use it to read books, or I could plug it to the Hi-Fi or the TV and use it as a CD/DVD player. Soon I understood that I'd never buy a desktop computer again.

That was some 10 years ago, and this past week I got the same feeling again. With the relatively surprising announcement of the Ubuntu phone OS I'm pretty sure I wont buy a laptop again. A new age in personal computing is dawning and Ubuntu seems to be riding on the crest of the wave. Below the fold is the video announcement of this new OS by Mark Shuttleworth, something that might have a serious impact on personal computing in the following decade.