.git/objects/info/alternates to share the objects
with the source repository. The resulting repository
starts out without any object of its own.
++
+*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
+source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
+These objects may be removed by normal git operations (such as git-commit[1])
+which automatically call git-gc[1]. If these objects are removed and
+were referenced by the cloned repository, then the cloned repository
+will become corrupt.
+
+
--reference <repository>::
If the reference repository is on the local machine
an already existing repository as an alternate will
require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
++
+*NOTE*: see NOTE to --shared option.
--quiet::
-q::