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]
  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, then delete branches in the
  69 source repository and then run linkgit:git-gc[1] using the
  70 '--prune' option in the source repository, it may remove
  71 objects which are referenced by the cloned repository.
  72
  73
  74
  75 --reference <repository>::
  76         If the reference repository is on the local machine
  77         automatically setup .git/objects/info/alternates to
  78         obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
  79         an already existing repository as an alternate will
  80         require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
  81         being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
  82
  83 --quiet::
  84 -q::
  85         Operate quietly.  This flag is passed to "rsync" and
  86         "git-fetch-pack" commands when given.
  87
  88 --no-checkout::
  89 -n::
  90         No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
  91
  92 --bare::
  93         Make a 'bare' GIT repository.  That is, instead of
  94         creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
  95         files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
  96         itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
  97         because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
  98         Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
  99         to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
 100         them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
 101         used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
 102         configuration variables are created.
 103
 104 --origin <name>::
 105 -o <name>::
 106         Instead of using the remote name 'origin' to keep track
 107         of the upstream repository, use <name> instead.
 108
 109 --upload-pack <upload-pack>::
 110 -u <upload-pack>::
 111         When given, and the repository to clone from is handled
 112         by 'git-fetch-pack', '--exec=<upload-pack>' is passed to
 113         the command to specify non-default path for the command
 114         run on the other end.
 115
 116 --template=<template_directory>::
 117         Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
 118         if unset the templates are taken from the installation
 119         defined default, typically `/usr/share/git-core/templates`.
 120
 121 --depth <depth>::
 122         Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
 123         specified number of revisions.  A shallow repository has a
 124         number of limitations (you cannot clone or fetch from
 125         it, nor push from nor into it), but is adequate if you
 126         are only interested in the recent history of a large project
 127         with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
 128         as patches.
 129
 130 <repository>::
 131         The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  See the
 132         <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
 133         repositories.
 134
 135 <directory>::
 136         The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 137         part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 138         explicitly given ("repo" for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo"
 139         for "host.xz:foo/.git").  Cloning into an existing directory
 140         is not allowed.
 141
 142 :git-clone: 1
 143 include::urls.txt[]
 144
 145 Examples
 146 --------
 147
 148 Clone from upstream::
 149 +
 150 ------------
 151 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 152 $ cd my2.6
 153 $ make
 154 ------------
 155
 156
 157 Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out::
 158 +
 159 ------------
 160 $ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 161 $ cd ../copy
 162 $ git show-branch
 163 ------------
 164
 165
 166 Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory::
 167 +
 168 ------------
 169 $ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 170         git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 171         my2.7
 172 $ cd my2.7
 173 ------------
 174
 175
 176 Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public::
 177 +
 178 ------------
 179 $ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 180 ------------
 181
 182
 183 Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus::
 184 +
 185 ------------
 186 $ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 187     /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 188 ------------
 189
 190
 191 Author
 192 ------
 193 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 194
 195
 196 Documentation
 197 --------------
 198 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 199
 200
 201 GIT
 202 ---
 203 Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite