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|--recurse-submodules] [--] <repository>
  16           [<directory>]
  17
  18 DESCRIPTION
  19 -----------
  20
  21 Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
  22 remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
  23 (visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an
  24 initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's
  25 currently active branch.
  26
  27 After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
  28 all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
  29 arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
  30 current master branch, if any.
  31
  32 This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
  33 the remote branch heads under `refs/remotes/origin` and
  34 by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
  35 configuration variables.
  36
  37
  38 OPTIONS
  39 -------
  40 --local::
  41 -l::
  42         When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
  43         this flag bypasses the normal "git aware" transport
  44         mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
  45         HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
  46         The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
  47         to save space when possible.  This is now the default when
  48         the source repository is specified with `/path/to/repo`
  49         syntax, so it essentially is a no-op option.  To force
  50         copying instead of hardlinking (which may be desirable
  51         if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository),
  52         but still avoid the usual "git aware" transport
  53         mechanism, `--no-hardlinks` can be used.
  54
  55 --no-hardlinks::
  56         Optimize the cloning process from a repository on a
  57         local filesystem by copying files under `.git/objects`
  58         directory.
  59
  60 --shared::
  61 -s::
  62         When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
  63         instead of using hard links, automatically setup
  64         `.git/objects/info/alternates` to share the objects
  65         with the source repository.  The resulting repository
  66         starts out without any object of its own.
  67 +
  68 *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
  69 it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
  70 repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
  71 other git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
  72 source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
  73 These objects may be removed by normal git operations (such as `git commit`)
  74 which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
  75 If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
  76 then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
  77 +
  78 Note that running `git repack` without the `-l` option in a repository
  79 cloned with `-s` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack
  80 in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone -s`.
  81 It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `-l` option by
  82 default.
  83 +
  84 If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `-s` on
  85 its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all
  86 objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
  87
  88 --reference <repository>::
  89         If the reference repository is on the local machine,
  90         automatically setup `.git/objects/info/alternates` to
  91         obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
  92         an already existing repository as an alternate will
  93         require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
  94         being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
  95 +
  96 *NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--shared` option.
  97
  98 --quiet::
  99 -q::
 100         Operate quietly.  Progress is not reported to the standard
 101         error stream. This flag is also passed to the `rsync'
 102         command when given.
 103
 104 --verbose::
 105 -v::
 106         Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status
 107         to the standard error stream.
 108
 109 --progress::
 110         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 111         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
 112         is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
 113         standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
 114
 115 --no-checkout::
 116 -n::
 117         No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
 118
 119 --bare::
 120         Make a 'bare' GIT repository.  That is, instead of
 121         creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
 122         files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
 123         itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
 124         because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
 125         Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
 126         to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
 127         them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
 128         used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
 129         configuration variables are created.
 130
 131 --mirror::
 132         Set up a mirror of the source repository.  This implies `--bare`.
 133         Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the
 134         source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including
 135         remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such
 136         that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the
 137         target repository.
 138
 139 --origin <name>::
 140 -o <name>::
 141         Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track
 142         of the upstream repository, use `<name>`.
 143
 144 --branch <name>::
 145 -b <name>::
 146         Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed
 147         to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch
 148         instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will
 149         be checked out.
 150
 151 --upload-pack <upload-pack>::
 152 -u <upload-pack>::
 153         When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
 154         via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
 155         run on the other end.
 156
 157 --template=<template_directory>::
 158         Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
 159         (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].)
 160
 161 --depth <depth>::
 162         Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
 163         specified number of revisions.  A shallow repository has a
 164         number of limitations (you cannot clone or fetch from
 165         it, nor push from nor into it), but is adequate if you
 166         are only interested in the recent history of a large project
 167         with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
 168         as patches.
 169
 170 --recursive::
 171 --recurse-submodules::
 172         After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within,
 173         using their default settings. This is equivalent to running
 174         `git submodule update --init --recursive` immediately after
 175         the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned
 176         repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of
 177         `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`, or `--mirror` is given)
 178
 179 <repository>::
 180         The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  See the
 181         <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
 182         repositories.
 183
 184 <directory>::
 185         The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 186         part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 187         explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo`
 188         for `host.xz:foo/.git`).  Cloning into an existing directory
 189         is only allowed if the directory is empty.
 190
 191 :git-clone: 1
 192 include::urls.txt[]
 193
 194 Examples
 195 --------
 196
 197 * Clone from upstream:
 198 +
 199 ------------
 200 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 201 $ cd my2.6
 202 $ make
 203 ------------
 204
 205
 206 * Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out:
 207 +
 208 ------------
 209 $ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 210 $ cd ../copy
 211 $ git show-branch
 212 ------------
 213
 214
 215 * Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory:
 216 +
 217 ------------
 218 $ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 219         git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 220         my2.7
 221 $ cd my2.7
 222 ------------
 223
 224
 225 * Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public:
 226 +
 227 ------------
 228 $ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 229 ------------
 230
 231
 232 * Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus:
 233 +
 234 ------------
 235 $ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 236     /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 237 ------------
 238
 239
 240 Author
 241 ------
 242 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 243
 244
 245 Documentation
 246 --------------
 247 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 248
 249
 250 GIT
 251 ---
 252 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite