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           [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--] <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
  23 initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's
  24 currently active branch.
  25
  26 After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
  27 all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
  28 arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
  29 current master branch, if any.
  30
  31 This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
  32 the remote branch heads under `refs/remotes/origin` and
  33 by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
  34 configuration variables.
  35
  36
  37 OPTIONS
  38 -------
  39 --local::
  40 -l::
  41         When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
  42         this flag bypasses the normal "git aware" transport
  43         mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
  44         HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
  45         The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
  46         to save space when possible.  This is now the default when
  47         the source repository is specified with `/path/to/repo`
  48         syntax, so it essentially is a no-op option.  To force
  49         copying instead of hardlinking (which may be desirable
  50         if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository),
  51         but still avoid the usual "git aware" transport
  52         mechanism, `--no-hardlinks` can be used.
  53
  54 --no-hardlinks::
  55         Optimize the cloning process from a repository on a
  56         local filesystem by copying files under `.git/objects`
  57         directory.
  58
  59 --shared::
  60 -s::
  61         When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
  62         instead of using hard links, automatically setup
  63         `.git/objects/info/alternates` to share the objects
  64         with the source repository.  The resulting repository
  65         starts out without any object of its own.
  66 +
  67 *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
  68 it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
  69 repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
  70 other git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
  71 source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
  72 These objects may be removed by normal git operations (such as `git commit`)
  73 which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
  74 If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
  75 then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
  76 +
  77 Note that running `git repack` without the `-l` option in a repository
  78 cloned with `-s` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack
  79 in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone -s`.
  80 It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `-l` option by
  81 default.
  82 +
  83 If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `-s` on
  84 its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all
  85 objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
  86
  87 --reference <repository>::
  88         If the reference repository is on the local machine,
  89         automatically setup `.git/objects/info/alternates` to
  90         obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
  91         an already existing repository as an alternate will
  92         require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
  93         being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
  94 +
  95 *NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--shared` option.
  96
  97 --quiet::
  98 -q::
  99         Operate quietly.  Progress is not reported to the standard
 100         error stream. This flag is also passed to the `rsync'
 101         command when given.
 102
 103 --verbose::
 104 -v::
 105         Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status
 106         to the standard error stream.
 107
 108 --progress::
 109         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 110         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
 111         is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
 112         standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
 113
 114 --no-checkout::
 115 -n::
 116         No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
 117
 118 --bare::
 119         Make a 'bare' GIT repository.  That is, instead of
 120         creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
 121         files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
 122         itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
 123         because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
 124         Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
 125         to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
 126         them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
 127         used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
 128         configuration variables are created.
 129
 130 --mirror::
 131         Set up a mirror of the source repository.  This implies `--bare`.
 132         Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the
 133         source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including
 134         remote branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such
 135         that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the
 136         target repository.
 137
 138 --origin <name>::
 139 -o <name>::
 140         Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track
 141         of the upstream repository, use `<name>`.
 142
 143 --branch <name>::
 144 -b <name>::
 145         Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed
 146         to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch
 147         instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will
 148         be checked out.
 149
 150 --upload-pack <upload-pack>::
 151 -u <upload-pack>::
 152         When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
 153         via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
 154         run on the other end.
 155
 156 --template=<template_directory>::
 157         Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
 158         (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].)
 159
 160 --depth <depth>::
 161         Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
 162         specified number of revisions.  A shallow repository has a
 163         number of limitations (you cannot clone or fetch from
 164         it, nor push from nor into it), but is adequate if you
 165         are only interested in the recent history of a large project
 166         with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
 167         as patches.
 168
 169 --recursive::
 170         After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within,
 171         using their default settings. This is equivalent to running
 172         `git submodule update --init --recursive` immediately after
 173         the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned
 174         repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of
 175         `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`, or `--mirror` is given)
 176
 177 <repository>::
 178         The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  See the
 179         <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
 180         repositories.
 181
 182 <directory>::
 183         The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 184         part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 185         explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo`
 186         for `host.xz:foo/.git`).  Cloning into an existing directory
 187         is only allowed if the directory is empty.
 188
 189 :git-clone: 1
 190 include::urls.txt[]
 191
 192 Examples
 193 --------
 194
 195 * Clone from upstream:
 196 +
 197 ------------
 198 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 199 $ cd my2.6
 200 $ make
 201 ------------
 202
 203
 204 * Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out:
 205 +
 206 ------------
 207 $ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 208 $ cd ../copy
 209 $ git show-branch
 210 ------------
 211
 212
 213 * Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory:
 214 +
 215 ------------
 216 $ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 217         git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 218         my2.7
 219 $ cd my2.7
 220 ------------
 221
 222
 223 * Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public:
 224 +
 225 ------------
 226 $ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 227 ------------
 228
 229
 230 * Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus:
 231 +
 232 ------------
 233 $ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 234     /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 235 ------------
 236
 237
 238 Author
 239 ------
 240 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 241
 242
 243 Documentation
 244 --------------
 245 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 246
 247
 248 GIT
 249 ---
 250 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite