NAME
git-clone - Clone a repository into a new directorySYNOPSIS
git clone [--template=<template-directory>] [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare] [--mirror] [-o <name>] [-b <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>] [--dissociate] [--separate-git-dir <git-dir>] [--depth <depth>] [--[no-]single-branch] [--no-tags] [--recurse-submodules[=<pathspec>]] [--[no-]shallow-submodules] [--[no-]remote-submodules] [--jobs <n>] [--sparse] [--[no-]reject-shallow] [--filter=<filter> [--also-filter-submodules]] [--] <repository> [<directory>]
DESCRIPTION
Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository (visible using git branch --remotes), and creates and checks out an initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository’s currently active branch.OPTIONS
-l, --localWhen the repository to clone from is on a
local machine, this flag bypasses the normal "Git aware" transport
mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of HEAD and everything
under objects and refs directories. The files under .git/objects/
directory are hardlinked to save space when possible.
If the repository is specified as a local path (e.g., /path/to/repo),
this is the default, and --local is essentially a no-op. If the repository is
specified as a URL, then this flag is ignored (and we never use the local
optimizations). Specifying --no-local will override the default when
/path/to/repo is given, using the regular Git transport instead.
NOTE: this operation can race with concurrent modification to the source
repository, similar to running cp -r src dst while modifying
src.
--no-hardlinks
Force the cloning process from a repository on
a local filesystem to copy the files under the .git/objects directory
instead of using hardlinks. This may be desirable if you are trying to make a
back-up of your repository.
-s, --shared
When the repository to clone is on the local
machine, instead of using hard links, automatically setup
.git/objects/info/alternates to share the objects with the source
repository. The resulting repository starts out without any object of its own.
NOTE: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do not use it unless
you understand what it does. If you clone your repository using this option
and then delete branches (or use any other Git command that makes any existing
commit unreferenced) in the source repository, some objects may become
unreferenced (or dangling). These objects may be removed by normal Git
operations (such as git commit) which automatically call git
maintenance run --auto. (See git-maintenance(1).) If these objects
are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository, then the cloned
repository will become corrupt.
Note that running git repack without the --local option in a
repository cloned with --shared will copy objects from the source
repository into a pack in the cloned repository, removing the disk space
savings of clone --shared. It is safe, however, to run git gc,
which uses the --local option by default.
If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with --shared
on its source repository, you can simply run git repack -a to copy all
objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
--reference[-if-able] <repository>
If the reference repository is on the local
machine, automatically setup .git/objects/info/alternates to obtain
objects from the reference repository. Using an already existing repository as
an alternate will require fewer objects to be copied from the repository being
cloned, reducing network and local storage costs. When using the
--reference-if-able, a non existing directory is skipped with a warning
instead of aborting the clone.
NOTE: see the NOTE for the --shared option, and also the
--dissociate option.
--dissociate
Borrow the objects from reference repositories
specified with the --reference options only to reduce network transfer,
and stop borrowing from them after a clone is made by making necessary local
copies of borrowed objects. This option can also be used when cloning locally
from a repository that already borrows objects from another
repository—the new repository will borrow objects from the same
repository, and this option can be used to stop the borrowing.
-q, --quiet
Operate quietly. Progress is not reported to
the standard error stream.
-v, --verbose
Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting
of progress status to the standard error stream.
--progress
Progress status is reported on the standard
error stream by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless
--quiet is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
--server-option=<option>
Transmit the given string to the server when
communicating using protocol version 2. The given string must not contain a
NUL or LF character. The server’s handling of server options, including
unknown ones, is server-specific. When multiple
--server-option=<option> are given, they are all sent to the
other side in the order listed on the command line.
-n, --no-checkout
No checkout of HEAD is performed after the
clone is complete.
--[no-]reject-shallow
Fail if the source repository is a shallow
repository. The clone.rejectShallow configuration variable can be used
to specify the default.
--bare
Make a bare Git repository. That is,
instead of creating <directory> and placing the administrative
files in <directory>/.git, make the <directory>
itself the $GIT_DIR. This obviously implies the --no-checkout
because there is nowhere to check out the working tree. Also the branch heads
at the remote are copied directly to corresponding local branch heads, without
mapping them to refs/remotes/origin/. When this option is used, neither
remote-tracking branches nor the related configuration variables are
created.
--sparse
Employ a sparse-checkout, with only files in
the toplevel directory initially being present. The
git-sparse-checkout(1) command can be used to grow the working
directory as needed.
--filter=<filter-spec>
Use the partial clone feature and request that
the server sends a subset of reachable objects according to a given object
filter. When using --filter, the supplied <filter-spec> is
used for the partial clone filter. For example, --filter=blob:none will
filter out all blobs (file contents) until needed by Git. Also,
--filter=blob:limit=<size> will filter out all blobs of size at
least <size>. For more details on filter specifications, see the
--filter option in git-rev-list(1).
--also-filter-submodules
Also apply the partial clone filter to any
submodules in the repository. Requires --filter and
--recurse-submodules. This can be turned on by default by setting the
clone.filterSubmodules config option.
--mirror
Set up a mirror of the source repository. This
implies --bare. Compared to --bare, --mirror not only
maps local branches of the source to local branches of the target, it maps all
refs (including remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec
configuration such that all these refs are overwritten by a git remote
update in the target repository.
-o <name>, --origin <name>
Instead of using the remote name origin
to keep track of the upstream repository, use <name>. Overrides
clone.defaultRemoteName from the config.
-b <name>, --branch <name>
Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to
the branch pointed to by the cloned repository’s HEAD, point to
<name> branch instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the
branch that will be checked out. --branch can also take tags and
detaches the HEAD at that commit in the resulting repository.
-u <upload-pack>, --upload-pack <upload-pack>
When given, and the repository to clone from
is accessed via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command run on
the other end.
--template=<template-directory>
Specify the directory from which templates
will be used; (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of
git-init(1).)
-c <key>=<value>, --config <key>=<value>
Set a configuration variable in the
newly-created repository; this takes effect immediately after the repository
is initialized, but before the remote history is fetched or any files checked
out. The key is in the same format as expected by git-config(1) (e.g.,
core.eol=true). If multiple values are given for the same key, each
value will be written to the config file. This makes it safe, for example, to
add additional fetch refspecs to the origin remote.
Due to limitations of the current implementation, some configuration variables
do not take effect until after the initial fetch and checkout. Configuration
variables known to not take effect are: remote.<name>.mirror and
remote.<name>.tagOpt. Use the corresponding --mirror and
--no-tags options instead.
--depth <depth>
Create a shallow clone with a history
truncated to the specified number of commits. Implies --single-branch
unless --no-single-branch is given to fetch the histories near the tips
of all branches. If you want to clone submodules shallowly, also pass
--shallow-submodules.
--shallow-since=<date>
Create a shallow clone with a history after
the specified time.
--shallow-exclude=<revision>
Create a shallow clone with a history,
excluding commits reachable from a specified remote branch or tag. This option
can be specified multiple times.
--[no-]single-branch
Clone only the history leading to the tip of a
single branch, either specified by the --branch option or the primary
branch remote’s HEAD points at. Further fetches into the
resulting repository will only update the remote-tracking branch for the
branch this option was used for the initial cloning. If the HEAD at the remote
did not point at any branch when --single-branch clone was made, no
remote-tracking branch is created.
--no-tags
Don’t clone any tags, and set
remote.<remote>.tagOpt=--no-tags in the config, ensuring that
future git pull and git fetch operations won’t follow any
tags. Subsequent explicit tag fetches will still work, (see
git-fetch(1)).
Can be used in conjunction with --single-branch to clone and maintain a
branch with no references other than a single cloned branch. This is useful
e.g. to maintain minimal clones of the default branch of some repository for
search indexing.
--recurse-submodules[=<pathspec>]
After the clone is created, initialize and
clone submodules within based on the provided pathspec. If no pathspec is
provided, all submodules are initialized and cloned. This option can be given
multiple times for pathspecs consisting of multiple entries. The resulting
clone has submodule.active set to the provided pathspec, or
"." (meaning all submodules) if no pathspec is provided.
Submodules are initialized and cloned using their default settings. This is
equivalent to running git submodule update --init --recursive
<pathspec> immediately after the clone is finished. This option is
ignored if the cloned repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if
any of --no-checkout/-n, --bare, or --mirror is
given)
--[no-]shallow-submodules
All submodules which are cloned will be
shallow with a depth of 1.
--[no-]remote-submodules
All submodules which are cloned will use the
status of the submodule’s remote-tracking branch to update the
submodule, rather than the superproject’s recorded SHA-1. Equivalent to
passing --remote to git submodule update.
--separate-git-dir=<git-dir>
Instead of placing the cloned repository where
it is supposed to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory,
then make a filesystem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there. The result is Git
repository can be separated from working tree.
-j <n>, --jobs <n>
The number of submodules fetched at the same
time. Defaults to the submodule.fetchJobs option.
<repository>
The (possibly remote) repository to clone
from. See the GIT URLS section below for more information on specifying
repositories.
<directory>
The name of a new directory to clone into. The
"humanish" part of the source repository is used if no directory is
explicitly given ( repo for /path/to/repo.git and foo for
host.xz:foo/.git). Cloning into an existing directory is only allowed
if the directory is empty.
--bundle-uri=<uri>
Before fetching from the remote, fetch a
bundle from the given <uri> and unbundle the data into the local
repository. The refs in the bundle will be stored under the hidden
refs/bundle/* namespace. This option is incompatible with
--depth, --shallow-since, and --shallow-exclude.
GIT URLS
In general, URLs contain information about the transport protocol, the address of the remote server, and the path to the repository. Depending on the transport protocol, some of this information may be absent.•ssh://[user@]host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/
•git://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/
•http[s]://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/
•ftp[s]://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/
•[user@]host.xz:path/to/repo.git/
•ssh://[user@]host.xz[:port]/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/
•git://host.xz[:port]/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/
•[user@]host.xz:/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/
•/path/to/repo.git/
•file:///path/to/repo.git/
•<transport>::<address>
[url "<actual url base>"] insteadOf = <other url base>
[url "git://git.host.xz/"] insteadOf = host.xz:/path/to/ insteadOf = work:
[url "<actual url base>"] pushInsteadOf = <other url base>
[url "ssh://example.org/"] pushInsteadOf = git://example.org/
EXAMPLES
•Clone from upstream:
$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git my-linux $ cd my-linux $ make
•Make a local clone that borrows from
the current directory, without checking things out:
$ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy $ cd ../copy $ git show-branch
•Clone from upstream while borrowing
from an existing local directory:
$ git clone --reference /git/linux.git \ git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git \ my-linux $ cd my-linux
•Create a bare repository to publish
your changes to the public:
$ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
CONFIGURATION
Everything below this line in this section is selectively included from the git-config(1) documentation. The content is the same as what’s found there: init.templateDirSpecify the directory from which templates
will be copied. (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of
git-init(1).)
init.defaultBranch
Allows overriding the default branch name e.g.
when initializing a new repository.
clone.defaultRemoteName
The name of the remote to create when cloning
a repository. Defaults to origin, and can be overridden by passing the
--origin command-line option to .
clone.rejectShallow
Reject to clone a repository if it is a
shallow one, can be overridden by passing option --reject-shallow in
command line. See
clone.filterSubmodules
If a partial clone filter is provided (see
--filter in git-rev-list(1)) and --recurse-submodules is
used, also apply the filter to submodules.
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite02/28/2023 | Git 2.39.2 |