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-rw-r--r--Documentation/git-clone.txt110
1 files changed, 84 insertions, 26 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/git-clone.txt b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
index a0a10e3e26..7ccd742a87 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-clone.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
@@ -9,17 +9,19 @@ git-clone - Clone a repository into a new directory
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git-clone' [--template=<template_directory>] [-l [-s]] [-q] [-n] [--bare]
- [-o <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
- [--depth <depth>] <repository> [<directory>]
+'git clone' [--template=<template_directory>]
+ [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare] [--mirror]
+ [-o <name>] [-b <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
+ [--depth <depth>] [--recursive] [--] <repository> [<directory>]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
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.
+(visible using `git branch -r`), and creates and checks out an
+initial branch that is forked from the cloned repository's
+currently active branch.
After the clone, a plain `git fetch` without arguments will update
all the remote-tracking branches, and a `git pull` without
@@ -37,32 +39,70 @@ OPTIONS
--local::
-l::
When the repository to clone from is on a local machine,
- this flag bypasses 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.
+ 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::
When the repository to clone is on the local machine,
instead of using hard links, automatically setup
- .git/objects/info/alternates to share the objects
+ `.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
- automatically setup .git/objects/info/alternates to
+ 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 the NOTE for the `--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 progress bar, even in case the standard output is not
+ a terminal.
--no-checkout::
-n::
@@ -80,16 +120,25 @@ OPTIONS
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.
+ Instead of using the remote name `origin` to keep track
+ 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 repository'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>::
@@ -99,13 +148,21 @@ OPTIONS
--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
@@ -114,10 +171,11 @@ OPTIONS
<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.
+ explicitly given (`repo` for `/path/to/repo.git` and `foo`
+ for `host.xz:foo/.git`). Cloning into an existing directory
+ is only allowed if the directory is empty.
+:git-clone: 1
include::urls.txt[]
Examples
@@ -178,4 +236,4 @@ Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
GIT
---
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite