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. 119 120--verbose:: 121-v:: 122 Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status 123 to the standard error stream. 124 125--progress:: 126 Progress status is reported on the standard error stream 127 by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q 128 is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the 129 standard error stream is not directed to a terminal. 130 131--no-checkout:: 132-n:: 133 No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete. 134 135--bare:: 136 Make a 'bare' Git repository. That is, instead of 137 creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative 138 files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>` 139 itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n` 140 because there is nowhere to check out the working tree. 141 Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly 142 to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping 143 them to `refs/remotes/origin/`. When this option is 144 used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related 145 configuration variables are created. 146 147--mirror:: 148 Set up a mirror of the source repository. This implies `--bare`. 149 Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the 150 source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including 151 remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such 152 that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the 153 target repository. 154 155--origin <name>:: 156-o <name>:: 157 Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track 158 of the upstream repository, use `<name>`. 159 160--branch <name>:: 161-b <name>:: 162 Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed 163 to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch 164 instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will 165 be checked out. 166 `--branch` can also take tags and detaches the HEAD at that commit 167 in the resulting repository. 168 169--upload-pack <upload-pack>:: 170-u <upload-pack>:: 171 When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed 172 via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command 173 run on the other end. 174 175--template=<template_directory>:: 176 Specify the directory from which templates will be used; 177 (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].) 178 179--config <key>=<value>:: 180-c <key>=<value>:: 181 Set a configuration variable in the newly-created repository; 182 this takes effect immediately after the repository is 183 initialized, but before the remote history is fetched or any 184 files checked out. The key is in the same format as expected by 185 linkgit:git-config[1] (e.g., `core.eol=true`). If multiple 186 values are given for the same key, each value will be written to 187 the config file. This makes it safe, for example, to add 188 additional fetch refspecs to the origin remote. 189 190--depth <depth>:: 191 Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the 192 specified number of commits. Implies `--single-branch` unless 193 `--no-single-branch` is given to fetch the histories near the 194 tips of all branches. 195 196--[no-]single-branch:: 197 Clone only the history leading to the tip of a single branch, 198 either specified by the `--branch` option or the primary 199 branch remote's `HEAD` points at. 200 Further fetches into the resulting repository will only update the 201 remote-tracking branch for the branch this option was used for the 202 initial cloning. If the HEAD at the remote did not point at any 203 branch when `--single-branch` clone was made, no remote-tracking 204 branch is created. 205 206--recursive:: 207--recurse-submodules:: 208 After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within, 209 using their default settings. This is equivalent to running 210 `git submodule update --init --recursive` immediately after 211 the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned 212 repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of 213 `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`, or `--mirror` is given) 214 215--separate-git-dir=<git dir>:: 216 Instead of placing the cloned repository where it is supposed 217 to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory, 218 then make a filesystem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there. 219 The result is Git repository can be separated from working 220 tree. 221 222 223<repository>:: 224 The (possibly remote) repository to clone from. See the 225 <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying 226 repositories. 227 228<directory>:: 229 The name of a new directory to clone into. The "humanish" 230 part of the source repository is used if no directory is 231 explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo` 232 for `host.xz:foo/.git`). Cloning into an existing directory 233 is only allowed if the directory is empty. 234 235:git-clone: 1 236include::urls.txt[] 237 238Examples 239-------- 240 241* Clone from upstream: 242+ 243------------ 244$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git my-linux 245$ cd my-linux 246$ make 247------------ 248 249 250* Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out: 251+ 252------------ 253$ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy 254$ cd ../copy 255$ git show-branch 256------------ 257 258 259* Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory: 260+ 261------------ 262$ git clone --reference /git/linux.git \ 263 git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git \ 264 my-linux 265$ cd my-linux 266------------ 267 268 269* Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public: 270+ 271------------ 272$ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git 273------------ 274 275 276GIT 277--- 278Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite