Documentation / git-clone.txton commit Merge branch 'ew/svn-pm' (5b85143)
   1git-clone(1)
   2============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-clone - Clones a repository
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git-clone' [--template=<template_directory>] [-l [-s]] [-q] [-n] [--bare]
  13          [-o <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
  14          <repository> [<directory>]
  15
  16DESCRIPTION
  17-----------
  18
  19Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
  20remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
  21(visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out a master
  22branch equal to the cloned repository's master branch.
  23
  24After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
  25all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
  26arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
  27current branch.
  28
  29This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
  30the remote branch heads under `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/origin` and
  31by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
  32configuration variables.
  33
  34OPTIONS
  35-------
  36--local::
  37-l::
  38        When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
  39        this flag bypasses normal "git aware" transport
  40        mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
  41        HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
  42        The files under .git/objects/ directory are hardlinked
  43        to save space when possible.
  44
  45--shared::
  46-s::
  47        When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
  48        instead of using hard links, automatically setup
  49        .git/objects/info/alternates to share the objects
  50        with the source repository.  The resulting repository
  51        starts out without any object of its own.
  52
  53--reference <repository>::
  54        If the reference repository is on the local machine
  55        automatically setup .git/objects/info/alternates to
  56        obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
  57        an already existing repository as an alternate will
  58        require less objects to be copied from the repository
  59        being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
  60
  61--quiet::
  62-q::
  63        Operate quietly.  This flag is passed to "rsync" and
  64        "git-fetch-pack" commands when given.
  65
  66-n::
  67        No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
  68
  69--bare::
  70        Make a 'bare' GIT repository.  That is, instead of
  71        creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
  72        files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
  73        itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
  74        because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
  75        Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
  76        to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
  77        them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
  78        used, neither the `origin` branch nor the default
  79        `remotes/origin` file is created.
  80
  81--origin <name>::
  82-o <name>::
  83        Instead of using the branch name 'origin' to keep track
  84        of the upstream repository, use <name> instead.  Note
  85        that the shorthand name stored in `remotes/origin` is
  86        not affected, but the local branch name to pull the
  87        remote `master` branch into is.
  88
  89--upload-pack <upload-pack>::
  90-u <upload-pack>::
  91        When given, and the repository to clone from is handled
  92        by 'git-fetch-pack', '--exec=<upload-pack>' is passed to
  93        the command to specify non-default path for the command
  94        run on the other end.
  95
  96--template=<template_directory>::
  97        Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
  98        if unset the templates are taken from the installation
  99        defined default, typically `/usr/share/git-core/templates`.
 100
 101<repository>::
 102        The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  It can
 103        be any URL git-fetch supports.
 104
 105<directory>::
 106        The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 107        part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 108        explicitly given ("repo" for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo"
 109        for "host.xz:foo/.git").  Cloning into an existing directory
 110        is not allowed.
 111
 112Examples
 113--------
 114
 115Clone from upstream::
 116+
 117------------
 118$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 119$ cd my2.6
 120$ make
 121------------
 122
 123
 124Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out::
 125+
 126------------
 127$ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 128$ cd copy
 129$ git show-branch
 130------------
 131
 132
 133Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory::
 134+
 135------------
 136$ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 137        git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 138        my2.7
 139$ cd my2.7
 140------------
 141
 142
 143Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public::
 144+
 145------------
 146$ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 147------------
 148
 149
 150Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus::
 151+
 152------------
 153$ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 154    /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 155------------
 156
 157
 158Author
 159------
 160Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 161
 162
 163Documentation
 164--------------
 165Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 166
 167
 168GIT
 169---
 170Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 171