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           [--dissociate] [--separate-git-dir <git dir>]
  16           [--depth <depth>] [--[no-]single-branch] [--no-tags]
  17           [--recurse-submodules[=<pathspec>]] [--[no-]shallow-submodules]
  18           [--[no-]remote-submodules] [--jobs <n>] [--sparse] [--] <repository>
  19           [<directory>]
  20
  21 DESCRIPTION
  22 -----------
  23
  24 Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
  25 remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
  26 (visible using `git branch --remotes`), and creates and checks out an
  27 initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's
  28 currently active branch.
  29
  30 After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
  31 all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
  32 arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
  33 current master branch, if any (this is untrue when "--single-branch"
  34 is given; see below).
  35
  36 This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
  37 the remote branch heads under `refs/remotes/origin` and
  38 by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
  39 configuration variables.
  40
  41
  42 OPTIONS
  43 -------
  44 -l::
  45 --local::
  46         When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
  47         this flag bypasses the normal "Git aware" transport
  48         mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
  49         HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
  50         The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
  51         to save space when possible.
  52 +
  53 If the repository is specified as a local path (e.g., `/path/to/repo`),
  54 this is the default, and --local is essentially a no-op.  If the
  55 repository is specified as a URL, then this flag is ignored (and we
  56 never use the local optimizations).  Specifying `--no-local` will
  57 override the default when `/path/to/repo` is given, using the regular
  58 Git transport instead.
  59
  60 --no-hardlinks::
  61         Force the cloning process from a repository on a local
  62         filesystem to copy the files under the `.git/objects`
  63         directory instead of using hardlinks. This may be desirable
  64         if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository.
  65
  66 -s::
  67 --shared::
  68         When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
  69         instead of using hard links, automatically setup
  70         `.git/objects/info/alternates` to share the objects
  71         with the source repository.  The resulting repository
  72         starts out without any object of its own.
  73 +
  74 *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
  75 it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
  76 repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
  77 other Git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
  78 source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
  79 These objects may be removed by normal Git operations (such as `git commit`)
  80 which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
  81 If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
  82 then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
  83 +
  84 Note that running `git repack` without the `--local` option in a repository
  85 cloned with `--shared` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack
  86 in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone --shared`.
  87 It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `--local` option by
  88 default.
  89 +
  90 If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `--shared` on
  91 its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all
  92 objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
  93
  94 --reference[-if-able] <repository>::
  95         If the reference repository is on the local machine,
  96         automatically setup `.git/objects/info/alternates` to
  97         obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
  98         an already existing repository as an alternate will
  99         require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
 100         being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
 101         When using the `--reference-if-able`, a non existing
 102         directory is skipped with a warning instead of aborting
 103         the clone.
 104 +
 105 *NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--shared` option, and also the
 106 `--dissociate` option.
 107
 108 --dissociate::
 109         Borrow the objects from reference repositories specified
 110         with the `--reference` options only to reduce network
 111         transfer, and stop borrowing from them after a clone is made
 112         by making necessary local copies of borrowed objects.  This
 113         option can also be used when cloning locally from a
 114         repository that already borrows objects from another
 115         repository--the new repository will borrow objects from the
 116         same repository, and this option can be used to stop the
 117         borrowing.
 118
 119 -q::
 120 --quiet::
 121         Operate quietly.  Progress is not reported to the standard
 122         error stream.
 123
 124 -v::
 125 --verbose::
 126         Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status
 127         to the standard error stream.
 128
 129 --progress::
 130         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 131         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless `--quiet`
 132         is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
 133         standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
 134
 135 --server-option=<option>::
 136         Transmit the given string to the server when communicating using
 137         protocol version 2.  The given string must not contain a NUL or LF
 138         character.  The server's handling of server options, including
 139         unknown ones, is server-specific.
 140         When multiple `--server-option=<option>` are given, they are all
 141         sent to the other side in the order listed on the command line.
 142
 143 -n::
 144 --no-checkout::
 145         No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
 146
 147 --bare::
 148         Make a 'bare' Git repository.  That is, instead of
 149         creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
 150         files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
 151         itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `--no-checkout`
 152         because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
 153         Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
 154         to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
 155         them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
 156         used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
 157         configuration variables are created.
 158
 159 --sparse::
 160         Initialize the sparse-checkout file so the working
 161         directory starts with only the files in the root
 162         of the repository. The sparse-checkout file can be
 163         modified to grow the working directory as needed.
 164
 165 --mirror::
 166         Set up a mirror of the source repository.  This implies `--bare`.
 167         Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the
 168         source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including
 169         remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such
 170         that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the
 171         target repository.
 172
 173 -o <name>::
 174 --origin <name>::
 175         Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track
 176         of the upstream repository, use `<name>`.
 177
 178 -b <name>::
 179 --branch <name>::
 180         Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed
 181         to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch
 182         instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will
 183         be checked out.
 184         `--branch` can also take tags and detaches the HEAD at that commit
 185         in the resulting repository.
 186
 187 -u <upload-pack>::
 188 --upload-pack <upload-pack>::
 189         When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
 190         via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
 191         run on the other end.
 192
 193 --template=<template_directory>::
 194         Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
 195         (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].)
 196
 197 -c <key>=<value>::
 198 --config <key>=<value>::
 199         Set a configuration variable in the newly-created repository;
 200         this takes effect immediately after the repository is
 201         initialized, but before the remote history is fetched or any
 202         files checked out.  The key is in the same format as expected by
 203         linkgit:git-config[1] (e.g., `core.eol=true`). If multiple
 204         values are given for the same key, each value will be written to
 205         the config file. This makes it safe, for example, to add
 206         additional fetch refspecs to the origin remote.
 207 +
 208 Due to limitations of the current implementation, some configuration
 209 variables do not take effect until after the initial fetch and checkout.
 210 Configuration variables known to not take effect are:
 211 `remote.<name>.mirror` and `remote.<name>.tagOpt`.  Use the
 212 corresponding `--mirror` and `--no-tags` options instead.
 213
 214 --depth <depth>::
 215         Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
 216         specified number of commits. Implies `--single-branch` unless
 217         `--no-single-branch` is given to fetch the histories near the
 218         tips of all branches. If you want to clone submodules shallowly,
 219         also pass `--shallow-submodules`.
 220
 221 --shallow-since=<date>::
 222         Create a shallow clone with a history after the specified time.
 223
 224 --shallow-exclude=<revision>::
 225         Create a shallow clone with a history, excluding commits
 226         reachable from a specified remote branch or tag.  This option
 227         can be specified multiple times.
 228
 229 --[no-]single-branch::
 230         Clone only the history leading to the tip of a single branch,
 231         either specified by the `--branch` option or the primary
 232         branch remote's `HEAD` points at.
 233         Further fetches into the resulting repository will only update the
 234         remote-tracking branch for the branch this option was used for the
 235         initial cloning.  If the HEAD at the remote did not point at any
 236         branch when `--single-branch` clone was made, no remote-tracking
 237         branch is created.
 238
 239 --no-tags::
 240         Don't clone any tags, and set
 241         `remote.<remote>.tagOpt=--no-tags` in the config, ensuring
 242         that future `git pull` and `git fetch` operations won't follow
 243         any tags. Subsequent explicit tag fetches will still work,
 244         (see linkgit:git-fetch[1]).
 245 +
 246 Can be used in conjunction with `--single-branch` to clone and
 247 maintain a branch with no references other than a single cloned
 248 branch. This is useful e.g. to maintain minimal clones of the default
 249 branch of some repository for search indexing.
 250
 251 --recurse-submodules[=<pathspec]::
 252         After the clone is created, initialize and clone submodules
 253         within based on the provided pathspec.  If no pathspec is
 254         provided, all submodules are initialized and cloned.
 255         This option can be given multiple times for pathspecs consisting
 256         of multiple entries.  The resulting clone has `submodule.active` set to
 257         the provided pathspec, or "." (meaning all submodules) if no
 258         pathspec is provided.
 259 +
 260 Submodules are initialized and cloned using their default settings. This is
 261 equivalent to running
 262 `git submodule update --init --recursive <pathspec>` immediately after
 263 the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned repository does
 264 not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`,
 265 or `--mirror` is given)
 266
 267 --[no-]shallow-submodules::
 268         All submodules which are cloned will be shallow with a depth of 1.
 269
 270 --[no-]remote-submodules::
 271         All submodules which are cloned will use the status of the submodule's
 272         remote-tracking branch to update the submodule, rather than the
 273         superproject's recorded SHA-1. Equivalent to passing `--remote` to
 274         `git submodule update`.
 275
 276 --separate-git-dir=<git dir>::
 277         Instead of placing the cloned repository where it is supposed
 278         to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory,
 279         then make a filesystem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there.
 280         The result is Git repository can be separated from working
 281         tree.
 282
 283 -j <n>::
 284 --jobs <n>::
 285         The number of submodules fetched at the same time.
 286         Defaults to the `submodule.fetchJobs` option.
 287
 288 <repository>::
 289         The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  See the
 290         <<URLS,GIT URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
 291         repositories.
 292
 293 <directory>::
 294         The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 295         part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 296         explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo`
 297         for `host.xz:foo/.git`).  Cloning into an existing directory
 298         is only allowed if the directory is empty.
 299
 300 :git-clone: 1
 301 include::urls.txt[]
 302
 303 EXAMPLES
 304 --------
 305
 306 * Clone from upstream:
 307 +
 308 ------------
 309 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git my-linux
 310 $ cd my-linux
 311 $ make
 312 ------------
 313
 314
 315 * Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out:
 316 +
 317 ------------
 318 $ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 319 $ cd ../copy
 320 $ git show-branch
 321 ------------
 322
 323
 324 * Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory:
 325 +
 326 ------------
 327 $ git clone --reference /git/linux.git \
 328         git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git \
 329         my-linux
 330 $ cd my-linux
 331 ------------
 332
 333
 334 * Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public:
 335 +
 336 ------------
 337 $ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 338 ------------
 339
 340
 341 GIT
 342 ---
 343 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite