Cloning Repositories

Goals

By the end of this lesson you should be able to

Use the git clone command to clone a repository

The Clone Command

In order to copy a repository the usual approach is to use the git clone command:

# Format of the clone command
$ git clone <original> [<copy>]

<original> is the path to the repository being copied, and <copy> is the path to copy to. If <copy> is not specified then Git will give the copy the same name as the original and place it in the current working directory.

NOTE: Cloning is not the same as simply copying the repository directory. We will discuss the reasons as we encounter them.

Clone your repository and call it clonerepo

$ cd ../  # navigate to the directory containing your myrepo folder
          # (you may need to use a different path for the cd command)
$ git clone myrepo clonerepo
Cloning into 'clonerepo'...
done.

If you run an ls you should now see both the myrepo and clonerepo directories.

Let's investigate this cloned repository a bit…

Do a git status in both myrepo and clonerepo:

$ cd myrepo
$ git status
On branch master
nothing to commit, working tree clean

$ cd ../clonerepo
$ git status
On branch master
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master'.

nothing to commit, working tree clean

Now check the log:

$ git log --oneline
6ba2205 (HEAD -> master, origin/master, origin/HEAD) Merge mybranch into master
ff2b08d (origin/mybranch) A note about the merge command
37a381b Notes about the branch and switch commands
737f014 Merge mybranch into master
...

Notice the extra line of text Your branch is up to date with 'origin/master' in the status of the cloned repository. Notice also three new labels, origin/master, origin/HEAD, and origin/mybranch in the log.

We will discuss the meaning of these new labels in the next few lessons…