Documentation / git-clone.txton commit Merge branch 'jc/merge-sans-branch' (ffc5e3c)
   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          [--depth <depth>] [--recursive|--recurse-submodules] [--] <repository>
  16          [<directory>]
  17
  18DESCRIPTION
  19-----------
  20
  21Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
  22remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
  23(visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an
  24initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's
  25currently active branch.
  26
  27After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
  28all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
  29arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
  30current master branch, if any.
  31
  32This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
  33the remote branch heads under `refs/remotes/origin` and
  34by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
  35configuration variables.
  36
  37
  38OPTIONS
  39-------
  40--local::
  41-l::
  42        When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
  43        this flag bypasses the normal "git aware" transport
  44        mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
  45        HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
  46        The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
  47        to save space when possible.  This is now the default when
  48        the source repository is specified with `/path/to/repo`
  49        syntax, so it essentially is a no-op option.  To force
  50        copying instead of hardlinking (which may be desirable
  51        if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository),
  52        but still avoid the usual "git aware" transport
  53        mechanism, `--no-hardlinks` can be used.
  54
  55--no-hardlinks::
  56        Optimize the cloning process from a repository on a
  57        local filesystem by copying files under `.git/objects`
  58        directory.
  59
  60--shared::
  61-s::
  62        When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
  63        instead of using hard links, automatically setup
  64        `.git/objects/info/alternates` to share the objects
  65        with the source repository.  The resulting repository
  66        starts out without any object of its own.
  67+
  68*NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
  69it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
  70repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
  71other git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
  72source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
  73These objects may be removed by normal git operations (such as `git commit`)
  74which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
  75If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
  76then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
  77+
  78Note that running `git repack` without the `-l` option in a repository
  79cloned with `-s` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack
  80in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone -s`.
  81It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `-l` option by
  82default.
  83+
  84If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `-s` on
  85its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all
  86objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
  87
  88--reference <repository>::
  89        If the reference repository is on the local machine,
  90        automatically setup `.git/objects/info/alternates` to
  91        obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
  92        an already existing repository as an alternate will
  93        require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
  94        being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
  95+
  96*NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--shared` option.
  97
  98--quiet::
  99-q::
 100        Operate quietly.  Progress is not reported to the standard
 101        error stream. This flag is also passed to the `rsync'
 102        command when given.
 103
 104--verbose::
 105-v::
 106        Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status
 107        to the standard error stream.
 108
 109--progress::
 110        Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 111        by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
 112        is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
 113        standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
 114
 115--no-checkout::
 116-n::
 117        No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
 118
 119--bare::
 120        Make a 'bare' GIT repository.  That is, instead of
 121        creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
 122        files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
 123        itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
 124        because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
 125        Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
 126        to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
 127        them to `refs/remotes/origin/`.  When this option is
 128        used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
 129        configuration variables are created.
 130
 131--mirror::
 132        Set up a mirror of the source repository.  This implies `--bare`.
 133        Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the
 134        source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including
 135        remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such
 136        that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the
 137        target repository.
 138
 139--origin <name>::
 140-o <name>::
 141        Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track
 142        of the upstream repository, use `<name>`.
 143
 144--branch <name>::
 145-b <name>::
 146        Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed
 147        to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch
 148        instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will
 149        be checked out.
 150
 151--upload-pack <upload-pack>::
 152-u <upload-pack>::
 153        When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
 154        via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
 155        run on the other end.
 156
 157--template=<template_directory>::
 158        Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
 159        (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].)
 160
 161--depth <depth>::
 162        Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
 163        specified number of revisions.  A shallow repository has a
 164        number of limitations (you cannot clone or fetch from
 165        it, nor push from nor into it), but is adequate if you
 166        are only interested in the recent history of a large project
 167        with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
 168        as patches.
 169
 170--recursive::
 171--recurse-submodules::
 172        After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within,
 173        using their default settings. This is equivalent to running
 174        `git submodule update --init --recursive` immediately after
 175        the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned
 176        repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of
 177        `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`, or `--mirror` is given)
 178
 179<repository>::
 180        The (possibly remote) repository to clone from.  See the
 181        <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
 182        repositories.
 183
 184<directory>::
 185        The name of a new directory to clone into.  The "humanish"
 186        part of the source repository is used if no directory is
 187        explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo`
 188        for `host.xz:foo/.git`).  Cloning into an existing directory
 189        is only allowed if the directory is empty.
 190
 191:git-clone: 1
 192include::urls.txt[]
 193
 194Examples
 195--------
 196
 197* Clone from upstream:
 198+
 199------------
 200$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
 201$ cd my2.6
 202$ make
 203------------
 204
 205
 206* Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out:
 207+
 208------------
 209$ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
 210$ cd ../copy
 211$ git show-branch
 212------------
 213
 214
 215* Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory:
 216+
 217------------
 218$ git clone --reference my2.6 \
 219        git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.7 \
 220        my2.7
 221$ cd my2.7
 222------------
 223
 224
 225* Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public:
 226+
 227------------
 228$ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
 229------------
 230
 231
 232* Create a repository on the kernel.org machine that borrows from Linus:
 233+
 234------------
 235$ git clone --bare -l -s /pub/scm/.../torvalds/linux-2.6.git \
 236    /pub/scm/.../me/subsys-2.6.git
 237------------
 238
 239GIT
 240---
 241Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite