Is my repository broken?

Having just converted a subversion repository to git using a custom 
fast-import based script, I realised that I had forgotten to add some 
users to the mapping table - so I thought that filter-branch would save me 
from having to redo the 72hr import.

At which point I discovered that I had a number of commits that git didn't 
like.  In particular I had a number of commits with an empty ident, and a 
number with more than 16 parents (actually mostly these are the same 
commits - but I don't think that's relevant).  When filter-branch tries to 
process these commits it can't commit them - and so I end up losing a 
number of refs.

I can fix the empty ident using the msg-filter in filter-branch, and I can 
work around the 16 parent limit by building a custom git with MAX_PARENT = 
32.  However - will having commits with more than 16 parents break things 
for un-modified git?  The commits in question were originally created in 
CVS, so the parenting is kinda 'real' for some value of real - but we are 
talking revision 4000/40000, so I don't mind arbitrarily limiting the 
commits to 16 parents, but I would prefer to avoid redoing the 72hr import 
if possible.  (Perhaps I can also 'fix' the parenting in filter-branch?)

Also, shouldn't fast-import be imposing the same restrictions on what you 
are allowed to commit that the main git tools do?  If not, are such 
restrictions documented so that I can apply them in my conversion script?

(28G Subversion repository to 7.1G git repository (before repacking) ... 
not bad :D)

-- 
Julian

  ---
Agnes' Law:
 	Almost everything in life is easier to get into than out of.