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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]
19 [--filter=<filter>] [--] <repository>
20 [<directory>]
21
22 DESCRIPTION
23 -----------
24
25 Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
26 remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
27 (visible using `git branch --remotes`), and creates and checks out an
28 initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's
29 currently active branch.
30
31 After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
32 all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
33 arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
34 current master branch, if any (this is untrue when "--single-branch"
35 is given; see below).
36
37 This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
38 the remote branch heads under `refs/remotes/origin` and
39 by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
40 configuration variables.
41
42
43 OPTIONS
44 -------
45 -l::
46 --local::
47 When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
48 this flag bypasses the normal "Git aware" transport
49 mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
50 HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
51 The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
52 to save space when possible.
53 +
54 If the repository is specified as a local path (e.g., `/path/to/repo`),
55 this is the default, and --local is essentially a no-op. If the
56 repository is specified as a URL, then this flag is ignored (and we
57 never use the local optimizations). Specifying `--no-local` will
58 override the default when `/path/to/repo` is given, using the regular
59 Git transport instead.
60
61 --no-hardlinks::
62 Force the cloning process from a repository on a local
63 filesystem to copy the files under the `.git/objects`
64 directory instead of using hardlinks. This may be desirable
65 if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository.
66
67 -s::
68 --shared::
69 When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
70 instead of using hard links, automatically setup
71 `.git/objects/info/alternates` to share the objects
72 with the source repository. The resulting repository
73 starts out without any object of its own.
74 +
75 *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
76 it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
77 repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
78 other Git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
79 source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
80 These objects may be removed by normal Git operations (such as `git commit`)
81 which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
82 If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
83 then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
84 +
85 Note that running `git repack` without the `--local` option in a repository
86 cloned with `--shared` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack
87 in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone --shared`.
88 It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `--local` option by
89 default.
90 +
91 If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `--shared` on
92 its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all
93 objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
94
95 --reference[-if-able] <repository>::
96 If the reference repository is on the local machine,
97 automatically setup `.git/objects/info/alternates` to
98 obtain objects from the reference repository. Using
99 an already existing repository as an alternate will
100 require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
101 being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
102 When using the `--reference-if-able`, a non existing
103 directory is skipped with a warning instead of aborting
104 the clone.
105 +
106 *NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--shared` option, and also the
107 `--dissociate` option.
108
109 --dissociate::
110 Borrow the objects from reference repositories specified
111 with the `--reference` options only to reduce network
112 transfer, and stop borrowing from them after a clone is made
113 by making necessary local copies of borrowed objects. This
114 option can also be used when cloning locally from a
115 repository that already borrows objects from another
116 repository--the new repository will borrow objects from the
117 same repository, and this option can be used to stop the
118 borrowing.
119
120 -q::
121 --quiet::
122 Operate quietly. Progress is not reported to the standard
123 error stream.
124
125 -v::
126 --verbose::
127 Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status
128 to the standard error stream.
129
130 --progress::
131 Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
132 by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless `--quiet`
133 is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
134 standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
135
136 --server-option=<option>::
137 Transmit the given string to the server when communicating using
138 protocol version 2. The given string must not contain a NUL or LF
139 character. The server's handling of server options, including
140 unknown ones, is server-specific.
141 When multiple `--server-option=<option>` are given, they are all
142 sent to the other side in the order listed on the command line.
143
144 -n::
145 --no-checkout::
146 No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
147
148 --bare::
149 Make a 'bare' Git repository. That is, instead of
150 creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
151 files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
152 itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `--no-checkout`
153 because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
154 Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
155 to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
156 them to `refs/remotes/origin/`. When this option is
157 used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
158 configuration variables are created.
159
160 --sparse::
161 Initialize the sparse-checkout file so the working
162 directory starts with only the files in the root
163 of the repository. The sparse-checkout file can be
164 modified to grow the working directory as needed.
165
166 --filter=<filter-spec>::
167 Use the partial clone feature and request that the server sends
168 a subset of reachable objects according to a given object filter.
169 When using `--filter`, the supplied `<filter-spec>` is used for
170 the partial clone filter. For example, `--filter=blob:none` will
171 filter out all blobs (file contents) until needed by Git. Also,
172 `--filter=blob:limit=<size>` will filter out all blobs of size
173 at least `<size>`. For more details on filter specifications, see
174 the `--filter` option in linkgit:git-rev-list[1].
175
176 --mirror::
177 Set up a mirror of the source repository. This implies `--bare`.
178 Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the
179 source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including
180 remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such
181 that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the
182 target repository.
183
184 -o <name>::
185 --origin <name>::
186 Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track
187 of the upstream repository, use `<name>`.
188
189 -b <name>::
190 --branch <name>::
191 Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed
192 to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch
193 instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will
194 be checked out.
195 `--branch` can also take tags and detaches the HEAD at that commit
196 in the resulting repository.
197
198 -u <upload-pack>::
199 --upload-pack <upload-pack>::
200 When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
201 via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
202 run on the other end.
203
204 --template=<template_directory>::
205 Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
206 (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].)
207
208 -c <key>=<value>::
209 --config <key>=<value>::
210 Set a configuration variable in the newly-created repository;
211 this takes effect immediately after the repository is
212 initialized, but before the remote history is fetched or any
213 files checked out. The key is in the same format as expected by
214 linkgit:git-config[1] (e.g., `core.eol=true`). If multiple
215 values are given for the same key, each value will be written to
216 the config file. This makes it safe, for example, to add
217 additional fetch refspecs to the origin remote.
218 +
219 Due to limitations of the current implementation, some configuration
220 variables do not take effect until after the initial fetch and checkout.
221 Configuration variables known to not take effect are:
222 `remote.<name>.mirror` and `remote.<name>.tagOpt`. Use the
223 corresponding `--mirror` and `--no-tags` options instead.
224
225 --depth <depth>::
226 Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
227 specified number of commits. Implies `--single-branch` unless
228 `--no-single-branch` is given to fetch the histories near the
229 tips of all branches. If you want to clone submodules shallowly,
230 also pass `--shallow-submodules`.
231
232 --shallow-since=<date>::
233 Create a shallow clone with a history after the specified time.
234
235 --shallow-exclude=<revision>::
236 Create a shallow clone with a history, excluding commits
237 reachable from a specified remote branch or tag. This option
238 can be specified multiple times.
239
240 --[no-]single-branch::
241 Clone only the history leading to the tip of a single branch,
242 either specified by the `--branch` option or the primary
243 branch remote's `HEAD` points at.
244 Further fetches into the resulting repository will only update the
245 remote-tracking branch for the branch this option was used for the
246 initial cloning. If the HEAD at the remote did not point at any
247 branch when `--single-branch` clone was made, no remote-tracking
248 branch is created.
249
250 --no-tags::
251 Don't clone any tags, and set
252 `remote.<remote>.tagOpt=--no-tags` in the config, ensuring
253 that future `git pull` and `git fetch` operations won't follow
254 any tags. Subsequent explicit tag fetches will still work,
255 (see linkgit:git-fetch[1]).
256 +
257 Can be used in conjunction with `--single-branch` to clone and
258 maintain a branch with no references other than a single cloned
259 branch. This is useful e.g. to maintain minimal clones of the default
260 branch of some repository for search indexing.
261
262 --recurse-submodules[=<pathspec]::
263 After the clone is created, initialize and clone submodules
264 within based on the provided pathspec. If no pathspec is
265 provided, all submodules are initialized and cloned.
266 This option can be given multiple times for pathspecs consisting
267 of multiple entries. The resulting clone has `submodule.active` set to
268 the provided pathspec, or "." (meaning all submodules) if no
269 pathspec is provided.
270 +
271 Submodules are initialized and cloned using their default settings. This is
272 equivalent to running
273 `git submodule update --init --recursive <pathspec>` immediately after
274 the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned repository does
275 not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`,
276 or `--mirror` is given)
277
278 --[no-]shallow-submodules::
279 All submodules which are cloned will be shallow with a depth of 1.
280
281 --[no-]remote-submodules::
282 All submodules which are cloned will use the status of the submodule's
283 remote-tracking branch to update the submodule, rather than the
284 superproject's recorded SHA-1. Equivalent to passing `--remote` to
285 `git submodule update`.
286
287 --separate-git-dir=<git dir>::
288 Instead of placing the cloned repository where it is supposed
289 to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory,
290 then make a filesystem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there.
291 The result is Git repository can be separated from working
292 tree.
293
294 -j <n>::
295 --jobs <n>::
296 The number of submodules fetched at the same time.
297 Defaults to the `submodule.fetchJobs` option.
298
299 <repository>::
300 The (possibly remote) repository to clone from. See the
301 <<URLS,GIT URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
302 repositories.
303
304 <directory>::
305 The name of a new directory to clone into. The "humanish"
306 part of the source repository is used if no directory is
307 explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo`
308 for `host.xz:foo/.git`). Cloning into an existing directory
309 is only allowed if the directory is empty.
310
311 :git-clone: 1
312 include::urls.txt[]
313
314 EXAMPLES
315 --------
316
317 * Clone from upstream:
318 +
319 ------------
320 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git my-linux
321 $ cd my-linux
322 $ make
323 ------------
324
325
326 * Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out:
327 +
328 ------------
329 $ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
330 $ cd ../copy
331 $ git show-branch
332 ------------
333
334
335 * Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory:
336 +
337 ------------
338 $ git clone --reference /git/linux.git \
339 git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git \
340 my-linux
341 $ cd my-linux
342 ------------
343
344
345 * Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public:
346 +
347 ------------
348 $ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
349 ------------
350
351
352 GIT
353 ---
354 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite