Documentation / git-clone.txton commit Merge branch 'lh/branch-rename' (abcb49c)
   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          [--use-separate-remote | --no-separate-remote] <repository>
  15          [<directory>]
  16
  17DESCRIPTION
  18-----------
  19
  20Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
  21remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
  22(visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out a master
  23branch equal to the cloned repository's master branch.
  24
  25After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
  26all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
  27arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
  28current branch.
  29
  30This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
  31the remote branch heads under `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/origin` and
  32by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
  33configuration variables.
  34
  35OPTIONS
  36-------
  37--local::
  38-l::
  39        When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
  40        this flag bypasses normal "git aware" transport
  41        mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
  42        HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
  43        The files under .git/objects/ directory are hardlinked
  44        to save space when possible.
  45
  46--shared::
  47-s::
  48        When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
  49        instead of using hard links, automatically setup
  50        .git/objects/info/alternates to share the objects
  51        with the source repository.  The resulting repository
  52        starts out without any object of its own.
  53
  54--reference <repository>::
  55        If the reference repository is on the local machine
  56        automatically setup .git/objects/info/alternates to
  57        obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
  58        an already existing repository as an alternate will
  59        require less objects to be copied from the repository
  60        being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
  61
  62--quiet::
  63-q::
  64        Operate quietly.  This flag is passed to "rsync" and
  65        "git-fetch-pack" commands when given.
  66
  67-n::
  68        No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
  69
  70--bare::
  71        Make a 'bare' GIT repository.  That is, instead of
  72        creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
  73        files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
  74        itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
  75        because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
  76        Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
  77        to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
  78        them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
  79        used, neither the `origin` branch nor the default
  80        `remotes/origin` file is created.
  81
  82--origin <name>::
  83-o <name>::
  84        Instead of using the branch name 'origin' to keep track
  85        of the upstream repository, use <name> instead.  Note
  86        that the shorthand name stored in `remotes/origin` is
  87        not affected, but the local branch name to pull the
  88        remote `master` branch into is.
  89
  90--upload-pack <upload-pack>::
  91-u <upload-pack>::
  92        When given, and the repository to clone from is handled
  93        by 'git-fetch-pack', '--exec=<upload-pack>' is passed to
  94        the command to specify non-default path for the command
  95        run on the other end.
  96
  97--template=<template_directory>::
  98        Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
  99        if unset the templates are taken from the installation
 100        defined default, typically `/usr/share/git-core/templates`.
 101
 102--use-separate-remote::
 103        Save remotes heads under `$GIT_DIR/remotes/origin/` instead
 104        of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/`.  Only the local master branch is
 105        saved in the latter. This is the default.
 106
 107--no-separate-remote::
 108        Save remotes heads in the same namespace as the local
 109        heads, `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/'.  In regular repositories,
 110        this is a legacy setup git-clone created by default in
 111        older Git versions, and will be removed before the next
 112        major release.
 113
 114<repository>::
 115        The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  It can
 116        be any URL git-fetch supports.
 117
 118<directory>::
 119        The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 120        part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 121        explicitly given ("repo" for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo"
 122        for "host.xz:foo/.git").  Cloning into an existing directory
 123        is not allowed.
 124
 125Examples
 126--------
 127
 128Clone from upstream::
 129+
 130------------
 131$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 132$ cd my2.6
 133$ make
 134------------
 135
 136
 137Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out::
 138+
 139------------
 140$ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 141$ cd copy
 142$ git show-branch
 143------------
 144
 145
 146Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory::
 147+
 148------------
 149$ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 150        git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 151        my2.7
 152$ cd my2.7
 153------------
 154
 155
 156Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public::
 157+
 158------------
 159$ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 160------------
 161
 162
 163Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus::
 164+
 165------------
 166$ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 167    /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 168------------
 169
 170
 171Author
 172------
 173Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 174
 175
 176Documentation
 177--------------
 178Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 179
 180
 181GIT
 182---
 183Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 184