Git - Clone

About

git clone creates a clone known as local repository from a remote repository.

cloning in git means:

• downloading the remote repository into a newly created directory
• setting for each downloaded branch (ie remote branch) their remote-tracking branches
• set the current branch (active) to the remote current branch.

After a first clone of a repository, all files will be tracked, and unmodified because they are just checked out and haven’t been edited.

Example

How to clone basic

• Creates a directory named “directoryWhereIwantMyCheckoutData” (The default name is the name of the git file in the URL)
• Get the clone URL from the Web

git clone https://github.com/gerardnico/the-name-of-my-repository.git directoryWhereIwantMyCheckoutData

Cloning into 'directoryWhereIwantMyCheckoutData'...
remote: Counting objects: 77, done.
remote: Total 77 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 77
Unpacking objects: 100% (77/77), done.
Checking connectivity... done.

It will:

• initializes a git directory inside it,
• pulls down all the data for that repository,
• and checks out a working copy of the latest version.

How to clone with only the last commit state?

git clone --depth=1 https://.....git .

How to clone if the directory is not empty

with init and pull

git init
git pull https://.....git "branch"

How to clone and checkout a branch

git clone --branch=stable https://.....git .

How to clone locally?

How to clone a local repository to another local repository path.

git -C targetRepoPath clone localRepoPath

• example on windows

git -C C:/Users/userName/AppData/Local/Temp/kamal-clones/postgres-b8bf8c33aa7c4 clone C:/code/infra

Command

Clone an existing Git repository from another server.

git clone [option] [url] [directory]

We can also use the following protocol in place of https:

• git://
• ssh with user@server:path/to/repo.git
• –depth 1 grabs the current file state and no history (handy for a build)

More? See docs/git-clone.html

Functionality

Git’s clone command automatically:

• create the origin name,
• pulls down all its data,
• creates a pointer to where its master branch is,
• names it origin/master locally.
• create a local master branch starting at the same place as origin’s master branch (where you will work to)