Merge branch 'ib/scripted-parse-opt-better-hint-string'
[git] / Documentation / git-clone.txt
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1git-clone(1)
2============
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3
4NAME
5----
29cf5e12 6git-clone - Clone a repository into a new directory
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7
8
9SYNOPSIS
10--------
353ce815 11[verse]
b1889c36 12'git clone' [--template=<template_directory>]
bc699afc 13 [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare] [--mirror]
db9bc00e 14 [-o <name>] [-b <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
fb1d6dab 15 [--dissociate] [--separate-git-dir <git dir>]
3e6e0edd 16 [--depth <depth>] [--[no-]single-branch]
0460ed2c 17 [--recursive | --recurse-submodules] [--] <repository>
ccdd3da6 18 [<directory>]
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19
20DESCRIPTION
21-----------
4607166d 22
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23Clones a repository into a newly created directory, creates
24remote-tracking branches for each branch in the cloned repository
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25(visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an
26initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's
27currently active branch.
4607166d 28
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29After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
30all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
31arguments will in addition merge the remote master branch into the
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32current master branch, if any (this is untrue when "--single-branch"
33is given; see below).
4607166d 34
db9819a4 35This default configuration is achieved by creating references to
cc1b8d8b 36the remote branch heads under `refs/remotes/origin` and
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37by initializing `remote.origin.url` and `remote.origin.fetch`
38configuration variables.
6ec311da 39
f4bf2184 40
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41OPTIONS
42-------
a2775c2a 43--local::
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44-l::
45 When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
2de9b711 46 this flag bypasses the normal "Git aware" transport
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47 mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
48 HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
3d5c418f 49 The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
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50 to save space when possible.
51+
52If the repository is specified as a local path (e.g., `/path/to/repo`),
53this is the default, and --local is essentially a no-op. If the
54repository is specified as a URL, then this flag is ignored (and we
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55never use the local optimizations). Specifying `--no-local` will
56override the default when `/path/to/repo` is given, using the regular
2de9b711 57Git transport instead.
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58
59--no-hardlinks::
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60 Force the cloning process from a repository on a local
61 filesystem to copy the files under the `.git/objects`
62 directory instead of using hardlinks. This may be desirable
63 if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository.
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65--shared::
66-s::
67 When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
4607166d 68 instead of using hard links, automatically setup
550c66f3 69 `.git/objects/info/alternates` to share the objects
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70 with the source repository. The resulting repository
71 starts out without any object of its own.
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72+
73*NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
74it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
2498a1ad 75repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
2de9b711 76other Git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
2498a1ad 77source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
2de9b711 78These objects may be removed by normal Git operations (such as `git commit`)
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79which automatically call `git gc --auto`. (See linkgit:git-gc[1].)
80If these objects are removed and were referenced by the cloned repository,
81then the cloned repository will become corrupt.
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82+
83Note that running `git repack` without the `-l` option in a repository
84cloned with `-s` will copy objects from the source repository into a pack
85in the cloned repository, removing the disk space savings of `clone -s`.
86It is safe, however, to run `git gc`, which uses the `-l` option by
87default.
88+
89If you want to break the dependency of a repository cloned with `-s` on
90its source repository, you can simply run `git repack -a` to copy all
91objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
a2775c2a 92
23edecbc 93--reference <repository>::
40592376 94 If the reference repository is on the local machine,
550c66f3 95 automatically setup `.git/objects/info/alternates` to
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96 obtain objects from the reference repository. Using
97 an already existing repository as an alternate will
451e5931 98 require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
23edecbc 99 being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
2498a1ad 100+
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101*NOTE*: see the NOTE for the `--shared` option, and also the
102`--dissociate` option.
103
104--dissociate::
105 Borrow the objects from reference repositories specified
106 with the `--reference` options only to reduce network
107 transfer and stop borrowing from them after a clone is made
108 by making necessary local copies of borrowed objects.
23edecbc 109
a2775c2a 110--quiet::
6ec311da 111-q::
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112 Operate quietly. Progress is not reported to the standard
113 error stream. This flag is also passed to the `rsync'
d3296e37 114 command when given.
6ec311da 115
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116--verbose::
117-v::
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118 Run verbosely. Does not affect the reporting of progress status
119 to the standard error stream.
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120
121--progress::
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122 Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
123 by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q
124 is specified. This flag forces progress status even if the
125 standard error stream is not directed to a terminal.
21188b1e 126
fd0368f9 127--no-checkout::
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128-n::
129 No checkout of HEAD is performed after the clone is complete.
130
87e80c4b 131--bare::
48a8c26c 132 Make a 'bare' Git repository. That is, instead of
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133 creating `<directory>` and placing the administrative
134 files in `<directory>/.git`, make the `<directory>`
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135 itself the `$GIT_DIR`. This obviously implies the `-n`
136 because there is nowhere to check out the working tree.
137 Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly
138 to corresponding local branch heads, without mapping
139 them to `refs/remotes/origin/`. When this option is
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140 used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
141 configuration variables are created.
8a1a120c 142
bc699afc 143--mirror::
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144 Set up a mirror of the source repository. This implies `--bare`.
145 Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the
146 source to local branches of the target, it maps all refs (including
29b9a66f 147 remote-tracking branches, notes etc.) and sets up a refspec configuration such
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148 that all these refs are overwritten by a `git remote update` in the
149 target repository.
bc699afc 150
ba158a32 151--origin <name>::
e6c310fd 152-o <name>::
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153 Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track
154 of the upstream repository, use `<name>`.
e6c310fd 155
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156--branch <name>::
157-b <name>::
158 Instead of pointing the newly created HEAD to the branch pointed
550c66f3 159 to by the cloned repository's HEAD, point to `<name>` branch
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160 instead. In a non-bare repository, this is the branch that will
161 be checked out.
162 `--branch` can also take tags and detaches the HEAD at that commit
163 in the resulting repository.
7a4ee28f 164
a2775c2a 165--upload-pack <upload-pack>::
6ec311da 166-u <upload-pack>::
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167 When given, and the repository to clone from is accessed
168 via ssh, this specifies a non-default path for the command
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169 run on the other end.
170
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171--template=<template_directory>::
172 Specify the directory from which templates will be used;
d8a8488d 173 (See the "TEMPLATE DIRECTORY" section of linkgit:git-init[1].)
a57c8bac 174
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175--config <key>=<value>::
176-c <key>=<value>::
177 Set a configuration variable in the newly-created repository;
178 this takes effect immediately after the repository is
179 initialized, but before the remote history is fetched or any
180 files checked out. The key is in the same format as expected by
181 linkgit:git-config[1] (e.g., `core.eol=true`). If multiple
182 values are given for the same key, each value will be written to
183 the config file. This makes it safe, for example, to add
184 additional fetch refspecs to the origin remote.
185
f496454e 186--depth <depth>::
f4bf2184 187 Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
82fba2b9 188 specified number of revisions.
f4bf2184 189
0460ed2c 190--[no-]single-branch::
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191 Clone only the history leading to the tip of a single branch,
192 either specified by the `--branch` option or the primary
193 branch remote's `HEAD` points at. When creating a shallow
194 clone with the `--depth` option, this is the default, unless
195 `--no-single-branch` is given to fetch the histories near the
196 tips of all branches.
31b808a0 197 Further fetches into the resulting repository will only update the
a6d3bde5 198 remote-tracking branch for the branch this option was used for the
31b808a0 199 initial cloning. If the HEAD at the remote did not point at any
a6d3bde5 200 branch when `--single-branch` clone was made, no remote-tracking
31b808a0 201 branch is created.
3e6e0edd 202
e7fed18a 203--recursive::
ccdd3da6 204--recurse-submodules::
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205 After the clone is created, initialize all submodules within,
206 using their default settings. This is equivalent to running
550c66f3 207 `git submodule update --init --recursive` immediately after
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208 the clone is finished. This option is ignored if the cloned
209 repository does not have a worktree/checkout (i.e. if any of
210 `--no-checkout`/`-n`, `--bare`, or `--mirror` is given)
211
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212--separate-git-dir=<git dir>::
213 Instead of placing the cloned repository where it is supposed
214 to be, place the cloned repository at the specified directory,
5fe8f49b 215 then make a filesystem-agnostic Git symbolic link to there.
2de9b711 216 The result is Git repository can be separated from working
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217 tree.
218
219
6ec311da 220<repository>::
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221 The (possibly remote) repository to clone from. See the
222 <<URLS,URLS>> section below for more information on specifying
223 repositories.
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224
225<directory>::
fb6a9f93 226 The name of a new directory to clone into. The "humanish"
0879aa28 227 part of the source repository is used if no directory is
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228 explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo`
229 for `host.xz:foo/.git`). Cloning into an existing directory
ec00d6e0 230 is only allowed if the directory is empty.
4607166d 231
347989f4 232:git-clone: 1
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233include::urls.txt[]
234
1e2ccd3a 235Examples
2b5f3ed3 236--------
1e2ccd3a 237
47638685 238* Clone from upstream:
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239+
240------------
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241$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git my-linux
242$ cd my-linux
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243$ make
244------------
245
246
47638685 247* Make a local clone that borrows from the current directory, without checking things out:
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248+
249------------
250$ git clone -l -s -n . ../copy
a6e3768f 251$ cd ../copy
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252$ git show-branch
253------------
254
8a1a120c 255
47638685 256* Clone from upstream while borrowing from an existing local directory:
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257+
258------------
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259$ git clone --reference /git/linux.git \
260 git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux.git \
261 my-linux
262$ cd my-linux
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263------------
264
265
47638685 266* Create a bare repository to publish your changes to the public:
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267+
268------------
87e80c4b 269$ git clone --bare -l /home/proj/.git /pub/scm/proj.git
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270------------
271
272
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273GIT
274---
9e1f0a85 275Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite