NAME
----
-git-clone - Clones a repository
+git-clone - Clone a repository into a new directory
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git-clone' [--template=<template_directory>] [-l [-s]] [-q] [-n] [--bare]
+'git clone' [--template=<template_directory>]
+ [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare] [--mirror]
[-o <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
- [--use-separate-remote | --use-immingled-remote] <repository>
- [<directory>]
+ [--depth <depth>] [--] <repository> [<directory>]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-Clones a repository into a newly created directory. All remote
-branch heads are copied under `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/`, except
-that the remote `master` is also copied to `origin` branch.
-In addition, `$GIT_DIR/remotes/origin` file is set up to have
-this line:
+Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
+remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
+(visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an initial
+branch equal to the cloned repository's currently active branch.
- Pull: master:origin
+After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
+all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
+arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
+current master branch, if any.
-This is to help the typical workflow of working off of the
-remote `master` branch. Every time `git pull` without argument
-is run, the progress on the remote `master` branch is tracked by
-copying it into the local `origin` branch, and merged into the
-branch you are currently working on. Remote branches other than
-`master` are also added there to be tracked.
+This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
+the remote branch heads under `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/origin` and
+by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
+configuration variables.
OPTIONS
this flag bypasses 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.
+ 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.
+
+--no-hardlinks::
+ Optimize the cloning process from a repository on a
+ local filesystem by copying files under `.git/objects`
+ directory.
--shared::
-s::
.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.
+
+
--reference <repository>::
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::
No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
them to `refs/remotes/origin/`. When this option is
- used, neither the `origin` branch nor the default
- `remotes/origin` file is created.
+ 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 branch name 'origin' to keep track
- of the upstream repository, use <name> instead. Note
- that the shorthand name stored in `remotes/origin` is
- not affected, but the local branch name to pull the
- remote `master` branch into is.
+ Instead of using the remote name 'origin' to keep track
+ of the upstream repository, use <name>.
--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>::
if unset the templates are taken from the installation
defined default, typically `/usr/share/git-core/templates`.
---use-separate-remote::
- Save remotes heads under `$GIT_DIR/remotes/origin/` instead
- of `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/`. Only the local master branch is
- saved in the latter. This is the default.
-
---use-immingled-remote::
- Save remotes heads in the same namespace as the local
- heads, `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/'. In regular repositories,
- this is a legacy setup git-clone created by default in
- older Git versions, and will be removed before the next
- major release.
+--depth <depth>::
+ Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
+ 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
+ are only interested in the recent history of a large project
+ with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
+ as patches.
<repository>::
- The (possibly remote) repository to clone from. It can
- be any URL git-fetch supports.
+ The (possibly remote) repository to clone from. See the
+ <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
+ repositories.
<directory>::
The name of a new directory to clone into. The "humanish"
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 clone -l -s -n . ../copy
-$ cd copy
+$ cd ../copy
$ git show-branch
------------
GIT
---
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
-
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite