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 --verbose::
  94 -v::
  95         Display the progressbar, even in case the standard output is not
  96         a terminal.
  97
  98 --no-checkout::
  99 -n::
 100         No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
 101
 102 --bare::
 103         Make a 'bare' GIT repository.  That is, instead of
 104         creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
 105         files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
 106         itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
 107         because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
 108         Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
 109         to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
 110         them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
 111         used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
 112         configuration variables are created.
 113
 114 --mirror::
 115         Set up a mirror of the remote repository.  This implies --bare.
 116
 117 --origin <name>::
 118 -o <name>::
 119         Instead of using the remote name 'origin' to keep track
 120         of the upstream repository, use <name>.
 121
 122 --upload-pack <upload-pack>::
 123 -u <upload-pack>::
 124         When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
 125         via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
 126         run on the other end.
 127
 128 --template=<template_directory>::
 129         Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
 130         if unset the templates are taken from the installation
 131         defined default, typically `/usr/share/git-core/templates`.
 132
 133 --depth <depth>::
 134         Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
 135         specified number of revisions.  A shallow repository has a
 136         number of limitations (you cannot clone or fetch from
 137         it, nor push from nor into it), but is adequate if you
 138         are only interested in the recent history of a large project
 139         with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
 140         as patches.
 141
 142 <repository>::
 143         The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  See the
 144         <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
 145         repositories.
 146
 147 <directory>::
 148         The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 149         part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 150         explicitly given ("repo" for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo"
 151         for "host.xz:foo/.git").  Cloning into an existing directory
 152         is only allowed if the directory is empty.
 153
 154 :git-clone: 1
 155 include::urls.txt[]
 156
 157 Examples
 158 --------
 159
 160 Clone from upstream::
 161 +
 162 ------------
 163 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 164 $ cd my2.6
 165 $ make
 166 ------------
 167
 168
 169 Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out::
 170 +
 171 ------------
 172 $ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 173 $ cd ../copy
 174 $ git show-branch
 175 ------------
 176
 177
 178 Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory::
 179 +
 180 ------------
 181 $ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 182         git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 183         my2.7
 184 $ cd my2.7
 185 ------------
 186
 187
 188 Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public::
 189 +
 190 ------------
 191 $ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 192 ------------
 193
 194
 195 Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus::
 196 +
 197 ------------
 198 $ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 199     /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 200 ------------
 201
 202
 203 Author
 204 ------
 205 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 206
 207
 208 Documentation
 209 --------------
 210 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 211
 212
 213 GIT
 214 ---
 215 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite