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 To force copying instead of hardlinking (which may be desirable if you
  60 are trying to make a back-up of your repository), but still avoid the
  61 usual "Git aware" transport mechanism, `--no-hardlinks` can be used.
  62
  63 --no-hardlinks::
  64         Optimize the cloning process from a repository on a
  65         local filesystem by copying files under `.git/objects`
  66         directory.
  67
  68 --shared::
  69 -s::
  70         When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
  71         instead of using hard links, automatically setup
  72         `.git/objects/info/alternates` to share the objects
  73         with the source repository.  The resulting repository
  74         starts out without any object of its own.
  75 +
  76 *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
  77 it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
  78 repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
  79 other Git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
  80 source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
  81 These objects may be removed by normal Git operations (such as `git commit`)
  82 which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
  83 If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
  84 then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
  85 +
  86 Note that running `git repack` without the `-l` option in a repository
  87 cloned with `-s` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack
  88 in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone -s`.
  89 It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `-l` option by
  90 default.
  91 +
  92 If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `-s` on
  93 its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all
  94 objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
  95
  96 --reference <repository>::
  97         If the reference repository is on the local machine,
  98         automatically setup `.git/objects/info/alternates` to
  99         obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
 100         an already existing repository as an alternate will
 101         require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
 102         being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
 103 +
 104 *NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--shared` option.
 105
 106 --quiet::
 107 -q::
 108         Operate quietly.  Progress is not reported to the standard
 109         error stream. This flag is also passed to the `rsync'
 110         command when given.
 111
 112 --verbose::
 113 -v::
 114         Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status
 115         to the standard error stream.
 116
 117 --progress::
 118         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 119         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
 120         is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
 121         standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
 122
 123 --no-checkout::
 124 -n::
 125         No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
 126
 127 --bare::
 128         Make a 'bare' Git repository.  That is, instead of
 129         creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
 130         files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
 131         itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
 132         because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
 133         Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
 134         to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
 135         them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
 136         used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
 137         configuration variables are created.
 138
 139 --mirror::
 140         Set up a mirror of the source repository.  This implies `--bare`.
 141         Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the
 142         source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including
 143         remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such
 144         that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the
 145         target repository.
 146
 147 --origin <name>::
 148 -o <name>::
 149         Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track
 150         of the upstream repository, use `<name>`.
 151
 152 --branch <name>::
 153 -b <name>::
 154         Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed
 155         to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch
 156         instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will
 157         be checked out.
 158         `--branch` can also take tags and detaches the HEAD at that commit
 159         in the resulting repository.
 160
 161 --upload-pack <upload-pack>::
 162 -u <upload-pack>::
 163         When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
 164         via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
 165         run on the other end.
 166
 167 --template=<template_directory>::
 168         Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
 169         (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].)
 170
 171 --config <key>=<value>::
 172 -c <key>=<value>::
 173         Set a configuration variable in the newly-created repository;
 174         this takes effect immediately after the repository is
 175         initialized, but before the remote history is fetched or any
 176         files checked out.  The key is in the same format as expected by
 177         linkgit:git-config[1] (e.g., `core.eol=true`). If multiple
 178         values are given for the same key, each value will be written to
 179         the config file. This makes it safe, for example, to add
 180         additional fetch refspecs to the origin remote.
 181
 182 --depth <depth>::
 183         Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
 184         specified number of revisions.  A shallow repository has a
 185         number of limitations (you cannot clone or fetch from
 186         it, nor push from nor into it), but is adequate if you
 187         are only interested in the recent history of a large project
 188         with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
 189         as patches.
 190
 191 --single-branch::
 192         Clone only the history leading to the tip of a single branch,
 193         either specified by the `--branch` option or the primary
 194         branch remote's `HEAD` points at. When creating a shallow
 195         clone with the `--depth` option, this is the default, unless
 196         `--no-single-branch` is given to fetch the histories near the
 197         tips of all branches.
 198         Further fetches into the resulting repository will only update the
 199         remote-tracking branch for the branch this option was used for the
 200         initial cloning.  If the HEAD at the remote did not point at any
 201         branch when `--single-branch` clone was made, no remote-tracking
 202         branch is created.
 203
 204 --recursive::
 205 --recurse-submodules::
 206         After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within,
 207         using their default settings. This is equivalent to running
 208         `git submodule update --init --recursive` immediately after
 209         the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned
 210         repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of
 211         `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`, or `--mirror` is given)
 212
 213 --separate-git-dir=<git dir>::
 214         Instead of placing the cloned repository where it is supposed
 215         to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory,
 216         then make a filesytem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there.
 217         The result is Git repository can be separated from working
 218         tree.
 219
 220
 221 <repository>::
 222         The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  See the
 223         <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
 224         repositories.
 225
 226 <directory>::
 227         The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 228         part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 229         explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo`
 230         for `host.xz:foo/.git`).  Cloning into an existing directory
 231         is only allowed if the directory is empty.
 232
 233 :git-clone: 1
 234 include::urls.txt[]
 235
 236 Examples
 237 --------
 238
 239 * Clone from upstream:
 240 +
 241 ------------
 242 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 243 $ cd my2.6
 244 $ make
 245 ------------
 246
 247
 248 * Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out:
 249 +
 250 ------------
 251 $ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 252 $ cd ../copy
 253 $ git show-branch
 254 ------------
 255
 256
 257 * Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory:
 258 +
 259 ------------
 260 $ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 261         git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 262         my2.7
 263 $ cd my2.7
 264 ------------
 265
 266
 267 * Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public:
 268 +
 269 ------------
 270 $ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 271 ------------
 272
 273
 274 * Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus:
 275 +
 276 ------------
 277 $ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 278     /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 279 ------------
 280
 281 GIT
 282 ---
 283 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite