Documentation / git-clone.txton commit Merge branch 'maint' (c954d33)
   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] <repository> [<directory>]
  15
  16DESCRIPTION
  17-----------
  18Clones a repository into a newly created directory.  All remote
  19branch heads are copied under `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/`, except
  20that the remote `master` is also copied to `origin` branch.
  21
  22In addition, `$GIT_DIR/remotes/origin` file is set up to have
  23this line:
  24
  25        Pull: master:origin
  26
  27This is to help the typical workflow of working off of the
  28remote `master` branch.  Every time `git pull` without argument
  29is run, the progress on the remote `master` branch is tracked by
  30copying it into the local `origin` branch, and merged into the
  31branch you are currently working on.  Remote branches other than
  32`master` are also added there to be tracked.
  33
  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 `$GIT_DIR`. This implies `-n` option.  When
  75        this option is used, neither the `origin` branch nor the
  76        default `remotes/origin` file is created.
  77
  78--origin <name>::
  79-o <name>::
  80        Instead of using the branch name 'origin' to keep track
  81        of the upstream repository, use <name> instead.  Note
  82        that the shorthand name stored in `remotes/origin` is
  83        not affected, but the local branch name to pull the
  84        remote `master` branch into is.
  85
  86--upload-pack <upload-pack>::
  87-u <upload-pack>::
  88        When given, and the repository to clone from is handled
  89        by 'git-fetch-pack', '--exec=<upload-pack>' is passed to
  90        the command to specify non-default path for the command
  91        run on the other end.
  92
  93--template=<template_directory>::
  94        Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
  95        if unset the templates are taken from the installation
  96        defined default, typically `/usr/share/git-core/templates`.
  97
  98--use-separate-remote::
  99        Save remotes heads under `$GIT_DIR/remotes/origin/` instead
 100        of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/`.  Only the master branch is saved
 101        in the latter.
 102
 103<repository>::
 104        The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  It can
 105        be any URL git-fetch supports.
 106
 107<directory>::
 108        The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 109        part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 110        explicitly given ("repo" for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo"
 111        for "host.xz:foo/.git").  Cloning into an existing directory
 112        is not allowed.
 113
 114Examples
 115--------
 116
 117Clone from upstream::
 118+
 119------------
 120$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 121$ cd my2.6
 122$ make
 123------------
 124
 125
 126Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out::
 127+
 128------------
 129$ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 130$ cd copy
 131$ git show-branch
 132------------
 133
 134
 135Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory::
 136+
 137------------
 138$ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 139        git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 140        my2.7
 141$ cd my2.7
 142------------
 143
 144
 145Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public::
 146+
 147------------
 148$ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 149------------
 150
 151
 152Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus::
 153+
 154------------
 155$ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 156    /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 157------------
 158
 159
 160Author
 161------
 162Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
 163
 164
 165Documentation
 166--------------
 167Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 168
 169
 170GIT
 171---
 172Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 173