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>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
  15           [--depth <depth>] [--] <repository> [<directory>]
  16
  17 DESCRIPTION
  18 -----------
  19
  20 Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
  21 remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
  22 (visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an initial
  23 branch equal to the cloned repository's currently active branch.
  24
  25 After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
  26 all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
  27 arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
  28 current master branch, if any.
  29
  30 This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
  31 the remote branch heads under `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/origin` and
  32 by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
  33 configuration variables.
  34
  35
  36 OPTIONS
  37 -------
  38 --local::
  39 -l::
  40         When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
  41         this flag bypasses normal "git aware" transport
  42         mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
  43         HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
  44         The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
  45         to save space when possible.  This is now the default when
  46         the source repository is specified with `/path/to/repo`
  47         syntax, so it essentially is a no-op option.  To force
  48         copying instead of hardlinking (which may be desirable
  49         if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository),
  50         but still avoid the usual "git aware" transport
  51         mechanism, `--no-hardlinks` can be used.
  52
  53 --no-hardlinks::
  54         Optimize the cloning process from a repository on a
  55         local filesystem by copying files under `.git/objects`
  56         directory.
  57
  58 --shared::
  59 -s::
  60         When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
  61         instead of using hard links, automatically setup
  62         .git/objects/info/alternates to share the objects
  63         with the source repository.  The resulting repository
  64         starts out without any object of its own.
  65 +
  66 *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
  67 it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
  68 repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
  69 other git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
  70 source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
  71 These objects may be removed by normal git operations (such as 'git-commit')
  72 which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
  73 If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
  74 then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
  75
  76
  77
  78 --reference <repository>::
  79         If the reference repository is on the local machine
  80         automatically setup .git/objects/info/alternates to
  81         obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
  82         an already existing repository as an alternate will
  83         require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
  84         being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
  85 +
  86 *NOTE*: see NOTE to --shared option.
  87
  88 --quiet::
  89 -q::
  90         Operate quietly.  This flag is also passed to the `rsync'
  91         command when given.
  92
  93 --no-checkout::
  94 -n::
  95         No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
  96
  97 --bare::
  98         Make a 'bare' GIT repository.  That is, instead of
  99         creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
 100         files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
 101         itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
 102         because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
 103         Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
 104         to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
 105         them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
 106         used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
 107         configuration variables are created.
 108
 109 --mirror::
 110         Set up a mirror of the remote repository.  This implies --bare.
 111
 112 --origin <name>::
 113 -o <name>::
 114         Instead of using the remote name 'origin' to keep track
 115         of the upstream repository, use <name> instead.
 116
 117 --upload-pack <upload-pack>::
 118 -u <upload-pack>::
 119         When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
 120         via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
 121         run on the other end.
 122
 123 --template=<template_directory>::
 124         Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
 125         if unset the templates are taken from the installation
 126         defined default, typically `/usr/share/git-core/templates`.
 127
 128 --depth <depth>::
 129         Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
 130         specified number of revisions.  A shallow repository has a
 131         number of limitations (you cannot clone or fetch from
 132         it, nor push from nor into it), but is adequate if you
 133         are only interested in the recent history of a large project
 134         with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
 135         as patches.
 136
 137 <repository>::
 138         The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  See the
 139         <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
 140         repositories.
 141
 142 <directory>::
 143         The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 144         part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 145         explicitly given ("repo" for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo"
 146         for "host.xz:foo/.git").  Cloning into an existing directory
 147         is not allowed.
 148
 149 :git-clone: 1
 150 include::urls.txt[]
 151
 152 Examples
 153 --------
 154
 155 Clone from upstream::
 156 +
 157 ------------
 158 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 159 $ cd my2.6
 160 $ make
 161 ------------
 162
 163
 164 Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out::
 165 +
 166 ------------
 167 $ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 168 $ cd ../copy
 169 $ git show-branch
 170 ------------
 171
 172
 173 Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory::
 174 +
 175 ------------
 176 $ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 177         git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 178         my2.7
 179 $ cd my2.7
 180 ------------
 181
 182
 183 Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public::
 184 +
 185 ------------
 186 $ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 187 ------------
 188
 189
 190 Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus::
 191 +
 192 ------------
 193 $ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 194     /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 195 ------------
 196
 197
 198 Author
 199 ------
 200 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 201
 202
 203 Documentation
 204 --------------
 205 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 206
 207
 208 GIT
 209 ---
 210 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite