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