SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git-clone' [--template=<template_directory>]
- [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare]
+'git clone' [--template=<template_directory>]
+ [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare] [--mirror]
[-o <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
- [--depth <depth>] <repository> [<directory>]
+ [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--] <repository> [<directory>]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
.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')
+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.
++
+Note that running `git repack` without the `-l` option in a repository
+cloned with `-s` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack
+in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone -s`.
+It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `-l` option by
+default.
++
+If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `-s` on
+its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all
+objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
--reference <repository>::
- If the reference repository is on the local machine
+ If the reference repository is on the local machine,
automatically setup .git/objects/info/alternates to
obtain objects from the reference repository. Using
an already existing repository as an alternate will
- require less objects to be copied from the repository
+ 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::
- Operate quietly. This flag is passed to "rsync" and
- "git-fetch-pack" commands when given.
+ Operate quietly. This flag is also passed to the `rsync'
+ command when given.
+
+--verbose::
+-v::
+ Display the progressbar, even in case the standard output is not
+ a terminal.
--no-checkout::
-n::
used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
configuration variables are created.
+--mirror::
+ Set up a mirror of the remote repository. This implies --bare.
+
--origin <name>::
-o <name>::
Instead of using the remote name 'origin' to keep track
- of the upstream repository, use <name> instead.
+ of the upstream repository, use <name>.
+
+--branch <name>::
+-b <name>::
+ Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed
+ to by the cloned repositoroy's HEAD, point to <name> branch
+ instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will
+ be checked out.
--upload-pack <upload-pack>::
-u <upload-pack>::
- When given, and the repository to clone from is handled
- by 'git-fetch-pack', '--exec=<upload-pack>' is passed to
- the command to specify non-default path for the command
+ When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
+ via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
run on the other end.
--template=<template_directory>::
--depth <depth>::
Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
- specified number of revs. A shallow repository has
+ specified number of revisions. A shallow repository has a
number of limitations (you cannot clone or fetch from
it, nor push from nor into it), but is adequate if you
- want to only look at near the tip of a large project
- with a long history, and would want to send in a fixes
+ are only interested in the recent history of a large project
+ with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
as patches.
+--recursive::
+ After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within,
+ using their default settings. This is equivalent to running
+ 'git submodule update --init --recursive' immediately after
+ the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned
+ repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of
+ `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`, or `--mirror` is given)
+
<repository>::
The (possibly remote) repository to clone from. See the
<<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
part of the source repository is used if no directory is
explicitly given ("repo" for "/path/to/repo.git" and "foo"
for "host.xz:foo/.git"). Cloning into an existing directory
- is not allowed.
+ is only allowed if the directory is empty.
+:git-clone: 1
include::urls.txt[]
Examples
GIT
---
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite