Documentation/git-clone.txt

   1 git-clone(1)
   2 ============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-clone - Clone a repository into a new directory
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git clone' [--template=<template_directory>]
  13           [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare] [--mirror]
  14           [-o <name>] [-b <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
  15           [--separate-git-dir <git dir>]
  16           [--depth <depth>] [--[no-]single-branch]
  17           [--recursive | --recurse-submodules] [--] <repository>
  18           [<directory>]
  19
  20 DESCRIPTION
  21 -----------
  22
  23 Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
  24 remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
  25 (visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an
  26 initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's
  27 currently active branch.
  28
  29 After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
  30 all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
  31 arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
  32 current master branch, if any (this is untrue when "--single-branch"
  33 is given; see below).
  34
  35 This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
  36 the remote branch heads under `refs/remotes/origin` and
  37 by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
  38 configuration variables.
  39
  40
  41 OPTIONS
  42 -------
  43 --local::
  44 -l::
  45         When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
  46         this flag bypasses the normal "Git aware" transport
  47         mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
  48         HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
  49         The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
  50         to save space when possible.
  51 +
  52 If the repository is specified as a local path (e.g., `/path/to/repo`),
  53 this is the default, and --local is essentially a no-op.  If the
  54 repository is specified as a URL, then this flag is ignored (and we
  55 never use the local optimizations).  Specifying `--no-local` will
  56 override the default when `/path/to/repo` is given, using the regular
  57 Git transport instead.
  58
  59 --no-hardlinks::
  60         Force the cloning process from a repository on a local
  61         filesystem to copy the files under the `.git/objects`
  62         directory instead of using hardlinks. This may be desirable
  63         if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository.
  64
  65 --shared::
  66 -s::
  67         When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
  68         instead of using hard links, automatically setup
  69         `.git/objects/info/alternates` to share the objects
  70         with the source repository.  The resulting repository
  71         starts out without any object of its own.
  72 +
  73 *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
  74 it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
  75 repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
  76 other Git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
  77 source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
  78 These objects may be removed by normal Git operations (such as `git commit`)
  79 which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
  80 If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
  81 then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
  82 +
  83 Note that running `git repack` without the `-l` option in a repository
  84 cloned with `-s` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack
  85 in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone -s`.
  86 It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `-l` option by
  87 default.
  88 +
  89 If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `-s` on
  90 its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all
  91 objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
  92
  93 --reference <repository>::
  94         If the reference repository is on the local machine,
  95         automatically setup `.git/objects/info/alternates` to
  96         obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
  97         an already existing repository as an alternate will
  98         require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
  99         being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
 100 +
 101 *NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--shared` option.
 102
 103 --quiet::
 104 -q::
 105         Operate quietly.  Progress is not reported to the standard
 106         error stream. This flag is also passed to the `rsync'
 107         command when given.
 108
 109 --verbose::
 110 -v::
 111         Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status
 112         to the standard error stream.
 113
 114 --progress::
 115         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 116         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
 117         is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
 118         standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
 119
 120 --no-checkout::
 121 -n::
 122         No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
 123
 124 --bare::
 125         Make a 'bare' Git repository.  That is, instead of
 126         creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
 127         files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
 128         itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
 129         because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
 130         Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
 131         to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
 132         them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
 133         used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
 134         configuration variables are created.
 135
 136 --mirror::
 137         Set up a mirror of the source repository.  This implies `--bare`.
 138         Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the
 139         source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including
 140         remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such
 141         that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the
 142         target repository.
 143
 144 --origin <name>::
 145 -o <name>::
 146         Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track
 147         of the upstream repository, use `<name>`.
 148
 149 --branch <name>::
 150 -b <name>::
 151         Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed
 152         to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch
 153         instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will
 154         be checked out.
 155         `--branch` can also take tags and detaches the HEAD at that commit
 156         in the resulting repository.
 157
 158 --upload-pack <upload-pack>::
 159 -u <upload-pack>::
 160         When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
 161         via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
 162         run on the other end.
 163
 164 --template=<template_directory>::
 165         Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
 166         (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].)
 167
 168 --config <key>=<value>::
 169 -c <key>=<value>::
 170         Set a configuration variable in the newly-created repository;
 171         this takes effect immediately after the repository is
 172         initialized, but before the remote history is fetched or any
 173         files checked out.  The key is in the same format as expected by
 174         linkgit:git-config[1] (e.g., `core.eol=true`). If multiple
 175         values are given for the same key, each value will be written to
 176         the config file. This makes it safe, for example, to add
 177         additional fetch refspecs to the origin remote.
 178
 179 --depth <depth>::
 180         Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
 181         specified number of revisions.
 182
 183 --[no-]single-branch::
 184         Clone only the history leading to the tip of a single branch,
 185         either specified by the `--branch` option or the primary
 186         branch remote's `HEAD` points at. When creating a shallow
 187         clone with the `--depth` option, this is the default, unless
 188         `--no-single-branch` is given to fetch the histories near the
 189         tips of all branches.
 190         Further fetches into the resulting repository will only update the
 191         remote-tracking branch for the branch this option was used for the
 192         initial cloning.  If the HEAD at the remote did not point at any
 193         branch when `--single-branch` clone was made, no remote-tracking
 194         branch is created.
 195
 196 --recursive::
 197 --recurse-submodules::
 198         After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within,
 199         using their default settings. This is equivalent to running
 200         `git submodule update --init --recursive` immediately after
 201         the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned
 202         repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of
 203         `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`, or `--mirror` is given)
 204
 205 --separate-git-dir=<git dir>::
 206         Instead of placing the cloned repository where it is supposed
 207         to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory,
 208         then make a filesystem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there.
 209         The result is Git repository can be separated from working
 210         tree.
 211
 212
 213 <repository>::
 214         The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  See the
 215         <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
 216         repositories.
 217
 218 <directory>::
 219         The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 220         part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 221         explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo`
 222         for `host.xz:foo/.git`).  Cloning into an existing directory
 223         is only allowed if the directory is empty.
 224
 225 :git-clone: 1
 226 include::urls.txt[]
 227
 228 Examples
 229 --------
 230
 231 * Clone from upstream:
 232 +
 233 ------------
 234 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git my-linux
 235 $ cd my-linux
 236 $ make
 237 ------------
 238
 239
 240 * Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out:
 241 +
 242 ------------
 243 $ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 244 $ cd ../copy
 245 $ git show-branch
 246 ------------
 247
 248
 249 * Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory:
 250 +
 251 ------------
 252 $ git clone --reference /git/linux.git \
 253         git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git \
 254         my-linux
 255 $ cd my-linux
 256 ------------
 257
 258
 259 * Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public:
 260 +
 261 ------------
 262 $ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 263 ------------
 264
 265
 266 GIT
 267 ---
 268 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite