[wp-hackers] using git for tracking multiple disparate sites

[Scott R. Godin]

Started off asking this in #wordpress on freenode and was advised that 
the mailing list would appear to be a better choice of forum for 
questions along these lines. Fortunately this list is also mirrored via 
gmane.org so I can view it in newsreader format. :-)

anyway, to my questions:

So, how many of y'all have managed multiple wordpress installs via git 
version control? I've looked around google and found a few writeups here 
and there about how to get started with it (though I'm fairly familiar 
with git anyway), but what I *haven't* found is the sorts of pitfalls 
one can expect to run into and what to do about them (such as keeping 
track of when a particular file no longer exists in wordpress current vs 
previous, and/or when the install version is wildly outdated, and 
there's more than just a simple .0 -> .1 version increase)

For example, right now I have set up a git repo tracking four versions 
of wp: 2.0.3, 2.5.1, 2.6.1 and 2.9.1; each of which previous version 
prior to current is a client we've either had or acquired, that needs to 
be upgraded (for security reasons if nothing else)

so I've got a vendor branch tracking all the bare installs, and then the 
client branches tracking their version, with the idea that I can 
merge/rebase, test locally, and then upload.

I haven't done any merging or rebasing yet (although I believe I should 
be merging instead of rebasing, to keep the vendor branch clean) because 
before I get into that, I wanted to know whether anyone here had any 
insights or input on what i should watch for.

I mean,  I've found this, which should be of invaluable help:
	http://striderweb.com/nerdaphernalia/features/wp-log-deprecated-calls/
but a LOT has changed under the hood WRT the theming, as well as the 
database.

are there any intervening versions I should insert into that tree in 
order to be sure that the database gets properly updated between these 
versions ? or is all that still going to be properly handled as I step 
upwards on each ?

for example, say I move the one client from 2.0.3 to 2.5.1, and migrate 
the site, and then go to the admin interface and let it update the db.. 
will that happen properly ?

I'm not really lost.. just in need of directions ;) and I'm sure that 
there's other questions here that I SHOULD be asking but am just not 
versed enough in either git or wordpress to think of them at the moment.

any feedback appreciated.