--local::
-l::
When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
- this flag bypasses the normal "git aware" transport
+ this flag bypasses the normal "Git aware" transport
mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
- to save space when possible. This is now the default when
- the source repository is specified with `/path/to/repo`
- syntax, so it essentially is a no-op option. To force
- copying instead of hardlinking (which may be desirable
- if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository),
- but still avoid the usual "git aware" transport
- mechanism, `--no-hardlinks` can be used.
+ to save space when possible.
++
+If the repository is specified as a local path (e.g., `/path/to/repo`),
+this is the default, and --local is essentially a no-op. If the
+repository is specified as a URL, then this flag is ignored (and we
+never use the local optimizations). Specifying `--no-local` will
+override the default when `/path/to/repo` is given, using the regular
+Git transport instead.
++
+To force copying instead of hardlinking (which may be desirable if you
+are trying to make a back-up of your repository), but still avoid the
+usual "Git aware" transport mechanism, `--no-hardlinks` can be used.
--no-hardlinks::
Optimize the cloning process from a repository on a
*NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
-other git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
+other Git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
-These objects may be removed by normal git operations (such as `git commit`)
+These objects may be removed by normal Git operations (such as `git commit`)
which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
--bare::
- Make a 'bare' GIT repository. That is, instead of
+ Make a 'bare' Git repository. That is, instead of
creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
`--no-single-branch` is given to fetch the histories near the
tips of all branches.
Further fetches into the resulting repository will only update the
- remote tracking branch for the branch this option was used for the
+ remote-tracking branch for the branch this option was used for the
initial cloning. If the HEAD at the remote did not point at any
- branch when `--single-branch` clone was made, no remote tracking
+ branch when `--single-branch` clone was made, no remote-tracking
branch is created.
--recursive::
--separate-git-dir=<git dir>::
Instead of placing the cloned repository where it is supposed
to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory,
- then make a filesytem-agnostic git symbolic link to there.
- The result is git repository can be separated from working
+ then make a filesytem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there.
+ The result is Git repository can be separated from working
tree.