git clone operation

git clone operation

[Mike Gant]

I'm trying to understand git-clone and what to expect when I clone a
repository. Disclaimer, I am a newbie :).

Assume I have a repo with the following branches:

  cpu-intfc
  gige_mux
  improve-build
  main-devel
* master

According to the man page, git-clone "creates and checks out an initial
branch equal to the cloned repository's currently active branch."

So, when I clone this repo and run 'git-branch -a' I will have the
following:

  origin/HEAD
  origin/cpu-intfc
  origin/gige_mux
  origin/improve-build
  origin/main-devel
  origin/master
* master

All the origin/* branches are remote.

And, .git/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD is, 

$ cat .git/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD
ref: refs/remotes/origin/master

So far, this makes sense to me.

Now, let's say that I am working in the cpu-intfc branch of the original
repository and I clone the repository.

Running git-branch -a returns the following

  origin/HEAD
  origin/cpu-intfc
  origin/gige_mux
  origin/improve-build
  origin/main-devel
  origin/master
* cpu-intfc

And this,

$ cat .git/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD
ref: refs/remotes/origin/cpu-intfc

I was expecting to have a local branch named master (that is equal to
the remote branch origin/cpu-intfc) instead of cpu-intfc. Am I wrong to
expect this? Also, as a newbie user, it seems odd that I cannot specify
which branch of repo that I am cloning should be the default (master)
branch of the cloned repo? To put it another way, when cloning a repo I
have no way of controlling which branch I get as the default. It just
happens to depend on which branch the developer is working in at the
time I clone.  I've read through the man-page and there doesn't seem to
be any way around this.

I realize that I can create a new local branch that is based off the
desired branch:

$ git-checkout -b master origin/master

Is this the accepted method for obtaining the desired branch?


Thanks,
Mike

Re: git clone operation

[Jakub Narebski]

Mike Gant <mwgant@gmail.com> writes:

> I'm trying to understand git-clone and what to expect when I clone a
> repository. Disclaimer, I am a newbie :).
[...]

> According to the man page, git-clone "creates and checks out an initial
> branch equal to the cloned repository's currently active branch."
[...]

> Now, let's say that I am working in the cpu-intfc branch of the original
> repository and I clone the repository.
> 
> Running git-branch -a returns the following
> 
>   origin/HEAD
>   origin/cpu-intfc
>   origin/gige_mux
>   origin/improve-build
>   origin/main-devel
>   origin/master
> * cpu-intfc
> 
> And this,
> 
> $ cat .git/refs/remotes/origin/HEAD
> ref: refs/remotes/origin/cpu-intfc
> 
> I was expecting to have a local branch named master (that is equal to
> the remote branch origin/cpu-intfc) instead of cpu-intfc. Am I wrong to
> expect this? Also, as a newbie user, it seems odd that I cannot specify
> which branch of repo that I am cloning should be the default (master)
> branch of the cloned repo? To put it another way, when cloning a repo I
> have no way of controlling which branch I get as the default. It just
> happens to depend on which branch the developer is working in at the
> time I clone.  I've read through the man-page and there doesn't seem to
> be any way around this.

Currently the situation is a bit strange, because while git-remote
supports selecting which branch is meant to be remote-tracking master
branch via '-m <master>' option to "add" subcommand (setting
origin/HEAD symref), git-clone which is init + remote + fetch + some
bookkeeping and shortcuts doesn't.

Both commands are now built-in.

> I realize that I can create a new local branch that is based off the
> desired branch:
> 
> $ git-checkout -b master origin/master
> 
> Is this the accepted method for obtaining the desired branch?

You can use (with new anough Git)

  $ git checkout --track -b master origin/master

to setup repository in such way that "git pull" on 'master'
would know that it is meant to fetch from 'origin' and merge
'origin/master'.

In upcoming 1.6.1 it would be enough to use

  $ git checkout --track origin/master

-- 
Jakub Narebski
Poland
ShadeHawk on #git

Re: git clone operation

[Björn Steinbrink]

On 2008.08.17 12:23:57 -0700, Jakub Narebski wrote:
> Mike Gant <mwgant@gmail.com> writes:
> > I realize that I can create a new local branch that is based off the
> > desired branch:
> > 
> > $ git-checkout -b master origin/master
> > 
> > Is this the accepted method for obtaining the desired branch?
> 
> You can use (with new anough Git)
> 
>   $ git checkout --track -b master origin/master
> 
> to setup repository in such way that "git pull" on 'master'
> would know that it is meant to fetch from 'origin' and merge
> 'origin/master'.

branch.autosetupmerge is set to true by default, so for remote branches
--track is the default anyway (since 1.5.5 IIRC). So only an old enough
git would actually require --track, unless you changed the config ;-)

Björn

Re: git clone operation

[Mike Gant]

On Sun, Aug 17, 2008 at 1:38 PM, Björn Steinbrink <B.Steinbrink@gmx.de> wrote:
> On 2008.08.17 12:23:57 -0700, Jakub Narebski wrote:
>> Mike Gant <mwgant@gmail.com> writes:
>> > I realize that I can create a new local branch that is based off the
>> > desired branch:
>> >
>> > $ git-checkout -b master origin/master
>> >
>> > Is this the accepted method for obtaining the desired branch?
>>
>> You can use (with new anough Git)
>>
>>   $ git checkout --track -b master origin/master
>>
>> to setup repository in such way that "git pull" on 'master'
>> would know that it is meant to fetch from 'origin' and merge
>> 'origin/master'.
>
> branch.autosetupmerge is set to true by default, so for remote branches
> --track is the default anyway (since 1.5.5 IIRC). So only an old enough
> git would actually require --track, unless you changed the config ;-)
>
> Björn
>

Thanks for your responses. I appreciate you guys taking the time to answer.

After thinking about this, I still don't understand when I clone a
repo why I will
get the equivalent of whatever branch is active at the time of cloning? What
was the process that led to this design decision?

So that also got me thinking about work flows with git. Because of the way clone
works it seems that you wouldn't want someone to clone your every day "work"
repository? So do developers generally have a separate repository that they push
to and others can clone? This repository may have only a 'master' branch (but
probably others I seem to recall Junio describing other branches in the main git
repository). Is this a 'normal' work flow?

Thanks,
Mike Gant

Re: git clone operation

[Mike Gant]

> Thanks for your responses. I appreciate you guys taking the time to answer.
>
> After thinking about this, I still don't understand when I clone a
> repo why I will
> get the equivalent of whatever branch is active at the time of cloning? What
> was the process that led to this design decision?
>
> So that also got me thinking about work flows with git. Because of the way clone
> works it seems that you wouldn't want someone to clone your every day "work"
> repository? So do developers generally have a separate repository that they push
> to and others can clone? This repository may have only a 'master' branch (but
> probably others I seem to recall Junio describing other branches in the main git
> repository). Is this a 'normal' work flow?
>
> Thanks,
> Mike Gant
>

Also, I meant to add if the above work flow is the git way of
development, is this
the purpose of a bare repository?