1git-clone(1) 2============ 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-clone - Clone a repository into a new directory 7 8 9SYNOPSIS 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] 17 [--recursive | --recurse-submodules] [--] <repository> 18 [<directory>] 19 20DESCRIPTION 21----------- 22 23Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates 24remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository 25(visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an 26initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's 27currently active branch. 28 29After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update 30all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without 31arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the 32current master branch, if any (this is untrue when "--single-branch" 33is given; see below). 34 35This default configuration is achieved by creating references to 36the remote branch heads under `refs/remotes/origin` and 37by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch` 38configuration variables. 39 40 41OPTIONS 42------- 43--local:: 44-l:: 45 When the repository to clone from is on a local machine, 46 this flag bypasses the normal "Git aware" transport 47 mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of 48 HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories. 49 The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked 50 to save space when possible. 51+ 52If the repository is specified as a local path (e.g., `/path/to/repo`), 53this is the default, and --local is essentially a no-op. If the 54repository is specified as a URL, then this flag is ignored (and we 55never use the local optimizations). Specifying `--no-local` will 56override the default when `/path/to/repo` is given, using the regular 57Git transport instead. 58 59--no-hardlinks:: 60 Force the cloning process from a repository on a local 61 filesystem to copy the files under the `.git/objects` 62 directory instead of using hardlinks. This may be desirable 63 if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository. 64 65--shared:: 66-s:: 67 When the repository to clone is on the local machine, 68 instead of using hard links, automatically setup 69 `.git/objects/info/alternates` to share the objects 70 with the source repository. The resulting repository 71 starts out without any object of its own. 72+ 73*NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use 74it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your 75repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any 76other Git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the 77source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling). 78These objects may be removed by normal Git operations (such as `git commit`) 79which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].) 80If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository, 81then the cloned repository will become corrupt. 82+ 83Note that running `git repack` without the `-l` option in a repository 84cloned with `-s` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack 85in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone -s`. 86It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `-l` option by 87default. 88+ 89If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `-s` on 90its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all 91objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository. 92 93--reference <repository>:: 94 If the reference repository is on the local machine, 95 automatically setup `.git/objects/info/alternates` to 96 obtain objects from the reference repository. Using 97 an already existing repository as an alternate will 98 require fewer objects to be copied from the repository 99 being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs. 100+ 101*NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--shared` option, and also the 102`--dissociate` option. 103 104--dissociate:: 105 Borrow the objects from reference repositories specified 106 with the `--reference` options only to reduce network 107 transfer, and stop borrowing from them after a clone is made 108 by making necessary local copies of borrowed objects. This 109 option can also be used when cloning locally from a 110 repository that already borrows objects from another 111 repository--the new repository will borrow objects from the 112 same repository, and this option can be used to stop the 113 borrowing. 114 115--quiet:: 116-q:: 117 Operate quietly. Progress is not reported to the standard 118 error stream. This flag is also passed to the `rsync' 119 command when given. 120 121--verbose:: 122-v:: 123 Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status 124 to the standard error stream. 125 126--progress:: 127 Progress status is reported on the standard error stream 128 by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q 129 is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the 130 standard error stream is not directed to a terminal. 131 132--no-checkout:: 133-n:: 134 No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete. 135 136--bare:: 137 Make a 'bare' Git repository. That is, instead of 138 creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative 139 files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>` 140 itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n` 141 because there is nowhere to check out the working tree. 142 Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly 143 to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping 144 them to `refs/remotes/origin/`. When this option is 145 used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related 146 configuration variables are created. 147 148--mirror:: 149 Set up a mirror of the source repository. This implies `--bare`. 150 Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the 151 source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including 152 remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such 153 that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the 154 target repository. 155 156--origin <name>:: 157-o <name>:: 158 Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track 159 of the upstream repository, use `<name>`. 160 161--branch <name>:: 162-b <name>:: 163 Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed 164 to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch 165 instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will 166 be checked out. 167 `--branch` can also take tags and detaches the HEAD at that commit 168 in the resulting repository. 169 170--upload-pack <upload-pack>:: 171-u <upload-pack>:: 172 When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed 173 via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command 174 run on the other end. 175 176--template=<template_directory>:: 177 Specify the directory from which templates will be used; 178 (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].) 179 180--config <key>=<value>:: 181-c <key>=<value>:: 182 Set a configuration variable in the newly-created repository; 183 this takes effect immediately after the repository is 184 initialized, but before the remote history is fetched or any 185 files checked out. The key is in the same format as expected by 186 linkgit:git-config[1] (e.g., `core.eol=true`). If multiple 187 values are given for the same key, each value will be written to 188 the config file. This makes it safe, for example, to add 189 additional fetch refspecs to the origin remote. 190 191--depth <depth>:: 192 Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the 193 specified number of revisions. 194 195--[no-]single-branch:: 196 Clone only the history leading to the tip of a single branch, 197 either specified by the `--branch` option or the primary 198 branch remote's `HEAD` points at. When creating a shallow 199 clone with the `--depth` option, this is the default, unless 200 `--no-single-branch` is given to fetch the histories near the 201 tips of all branches. 202 Further fetches into the resulting repository will only update the 203 remote-tracking branch for the branch this option was used for the 204 initial cloning. If the HEAD at the remote did not point at any 205 branch when `--single-branch` clone was made, no remote-tracking 206 branch is created. 207 208--recursive:: 209--recurse-submodules:: 210 After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within, 211 using their default settings. This is equivalent to running 212 `git submodule update --init --recursive` immediately after 213 the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned 214 repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of 215 `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`, or `--mirror` is given) 216 217--separate-git-dir=<git dir>:: 218 Instead of placing the cloned repository where it is supposed 219 to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory, 220 then make a filesystem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there. 221 The result is Git repository can be separated from working 222 tree. 223 224 225<repository>:: 226 The (possibly remote) repository to clone from. See the 227 <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying 228 repositories. 229 230<directory>:: 231 The name of a new directory to clone into. The "humanish" 232 part of the source repository is used if no directory is 233 explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo` 234 for `host.xz:foo/.git`). Cloning into an existing directory 235 is only allowed if the directory is empty. 236 237:git-clone: 1 238include::urls.txt[] 239 240Examples 241-------- 242 243* Clone from upstream: 244+ 245------------ 246$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git my-linux 247$ cd my-linux 248$ make 249------------ 250 251 252* Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out: 253+ 254------------ 255$ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy 256$ cd ../copy 257$ git show-branch 258------------ 259 260 261* Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory: 262+ 263------------ 264$ git clone --reference /git/linux.git \ 265 git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git \ 266 my-linux 267$ cd my-linux 268------------ 269 270 271* Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public: 272+ 273------------ 274$ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git 275------------ 276 277 278GIT 279--- 280Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite