It isn't intended that .ikiwiki be versioned, is it? Do you have a svn:ignore set? 
Is there some magic way you can make the svn commands (and presumably commands for 
the other VCSs here) ignore the .ikiwiki directory during step 8, when they import it?
If not, maybe a note should be made that the user should delete this file before 
they import. --Ethan

> No, .ikiwiki should not be versioned, and a svn:ignore of it is reasonable,
> although probably too much noise for the setup instructions.
> I've switched to a different method that preserves .ikiwiki, w/o checking
> it in. --[[Joey]]

These instructions should probably show how to use a bare Git repository
(`GIT_DIR=somewhere.git git-init-db`) rather than a repository with a full
working copy. You can always clone the repository if you want your own local
working copy. Furthermore, this allows you to make multiple commits to your
working copy before pushing them to the repository and causing the wiki to
update. --[[JoshTriplett]]

Furthermore the git instructions should be changed to move the *.ikiwiki*
directory back into the wiki's working copy directory, isn't it? --[[tschwinge]]

Curious as to why support for CVS is not built in. --[[Luther]]

> See [[todo/CVS_backend|todo/CVS_backend]], but you might consider switching to a better version control system. --[[JoshTriplett]]