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I Have repository 'A', I cloned from it to Repository 'B' using git clone http://example/A.git. So now, I have one local branch "master" and all other branches as remote branches in 'B'.

Next Step, I want to clone from 'B' to a new Repository 'C' using git clone --bare, and bring all remote branches from 'B' and make them as local at 'C'.

Image of My Workflow

Ali Adel Abed
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2 Answers2

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just clone B to C

and run

git branch -a

to see all hidden branches

You can see full details in this answer:

How to clone all remote branches in Git?

Ahmed Abdelazim
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  • I don't have a problem showing the branches using git branch -a OR -r. the problem is, when you clone a repository without using --bare(Repo B), and then you clone B to C using --bare you can't see all branches. my question is how to bring the branches from B to C (known B is non-bare and C is bare( – Ali Adel Abed Oct 11 '18 at 12:29
  • Have a look on the link provided in my answer: if you want to work on that branch, you'll need to create a local tracking branch which is done automatically by: `git checkout experimental` – Ahmed Abdelazim Oct 11 '18 at 12:33
  • Can we do it without checking out to the wanted branch? so like only from the clone command ? I will add to the question a workflow please check it. – Ali Adel Abed Oct 11 '18 at 12:35
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You can create a mirror clone, but a mirror clone is a bare clone (for good reasons). That is:

[host B] git clone --mirror http://example/A.git

produces a mirror clone on B, and you can now do git clone --bare from B to C:

[host C] git clone --bare <url of B.git>

The mirror clone on B will contain all references that A gave, while the bare clone on C will contain only the branch and tag references from A. That is, if repository A has references refs/heads/master, refs/heads/develop, refs/remotes/origin/master, refs/replace/a23456789a23456789a23456789a23456789, and refs/tags/v1.0, the mirror on B has all these same references, while the bare clone on C lacks the refs/remotes/origin/master and refs/replace/... reference.

At any point after each clone, you can create refs/heads/ references within the clone. Hence if you want a non-bare repository on B, you can replace the middle step with:

[host B] git clone http://example/A.git

followed by a series of git update-ref (for arbitrary reference names) or git branch (for refs/heads/* reference names) operations. But note that the B clone at this point has copied neither A's refs/remotes/origin/master nor A's refs/replace/... reference. B has:

  • A's refs/heads/master, which B calls refs/remotes/origin/master now
  • A's refs/heads/develop, which B calls refs/remotes/origin/develop now
  • A's refs/tags/v1.0, which B calls refs/tags/v1.0

That is, B has copied A's refs/heads/* (branch) references, but has renamed them to be remote-tracking names instead of branch names. B has copied A's tags without any name changes.

As the last step of its clone operation, B ran git checkout master (or maybe git checkout develop if A told it to use develop instead). This has created B's only branch name, refs/heads/master (or maybe refs/heads/develop) and populated B's index and work-tree. So if you would like to make B have, as branches, all the branches that A had, it's relatively easy:

for all branches that were in A, but are now remote-tracking names in B:
    create branch in B using the remote-tracking name we created during the clone

which you can express in whatever programming language you prefer.

There is one annoyance here, which is that the "create branch" step will fail for the one branch that was already created by the git checkout step at the end of git clone. To avoid the annoyance, either check for and skip that branch, or use git clone --no-checkout to avoid creating the branch and populating the index and work-tree on B.

Summary

  • If you want a bare clone on B, using --mirror is an option. You will get all references.
  • If you want a bare clone on B but not a mirror, use --bare. You will get all branch and tag references.
  • If you want a non-bare clone on B, you must work harder (see above).

Repeat this for C.

torek
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