How to add a local repo and treat it as a remote repo

Question

I m trying to make a local repo act as a remote with the name bak for another local repo on my PC  using the following   git remote add  home sas dev apps smx repo bak ontologybackend  git bak   which gives this error   fatal    home sas dev apps smx repo bak ontologybackend  git  is not a valid remote name   I m trying to sync two local repos  with one configured as a remote named bak for the other  and then issuing git pull bak   What is the best way to do it     Edit     Sorry  silly me  I ve just realized the remote add should be   git remote add bak  home sas dev apps smx repo bak ontologybackend  git   the name of the remote goes before the address

User · Answer

If your goal is to keep a local copy of the repository for easy backup or for sticking onto an external drive or sharing via cloud storage (Dropbox, etc) you may want to use a bare repository. This allows you to create a copy of the repository without a working directory, optimized for sharing.

For example:

$ git init --bare ~/repos/myproject.git
$ cd /path/to/existing/repo
$ git remote add origin ~/repos/myproject.git
$ git push origin master

Similarly you can clone as if this were a remote repo:

$ git clone ~/repos/myproject.git

User · Answer

I am posting this answer to provide a script with explanations that covers three different scenarios of creating a local repo that has a local remote  You can run the entire script and it will create the test repos in your home folder  tested on windows git bash   The explanations are inside the script for easier saving to your personal notes  its very readable from  e g  Visual Studio Code   I would also like to thank Jack for linking to this answer where adelphus has good  detailed  hands on explanations on the topic   This is my first post here so please advise what should be improved      SETUP LOCAL GIT REPO WITH A LOCAL REMOTE   the main elements    - remote repo must be initialized with --bare parameter   - local repo must be initialized   - local repo must have at least one commit that properly initializes a branch root of the commit tree    - local repo needs to have a remote   - local repo branch must have an upstream branch on the remote      the brackets are optional  they allow to copy paste into terminal and run entire thing without interruptions  run without them to see which cmd outputs what  cd   rm -rf   test git local repo      Option A - clean slate - you have nothing yet  mkdir -p   test git local repo option a   cd   test git local repo option a git init --bare local remote git   first setup the local remote git clone local remote git local repo   creates a local repo in dir local repo cd   test git local repo option a local repo git remote -v show origin   see that git clone has configured the tracking touch README md   git add     git commit -m  initial commit on master    properly init master git push origin master   now have a fully functional setup  -u not needed  git clone does this for you    check all is set-up correctly git pull   check you can pull git branch -avv   see local branches and their respective remote upstream branches with the initial commit git remote -v show origin   see all branches are set to pull and push to remote git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all   see all commits and branches tips point to the same commits for both local and remote     Option B - you already have a local git repo and you want to connect it to a local remote  mkdir -p   test git local repo option b   cd   test git local repo option b git init --bare local remote git   first setup the local remote    simulate a pre-existing git local repo you want to connect with the local remote mkdir local repo   cd local repo git init   if not yet a git repo touch README md   git add     git commit -m  initial commit on master    properly init master git checkout -b develop   touch fileB   git add     git commit -m  add fileB on develop    create develop and fake change    connect with local remote cd   test git local repo option b local repo git remote add origin   test git local repo option b local remote git git remote -v show origin   at this point you can see that there is no the tracking configured  unlike with git clone   so you need to push with -u git push -u origin master   -u to set upstream git push -u origin develop   -u to set upstream  need to run this for every other branch you already have in the project    check all is set-up correctly git pull   check you can pull git branch -avv   see local branch es  and its remote upstream with the initial commit git remote -v show origin   see all remote branches are set to pull and push to remote git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all   see all commits and branches tips point to the same commits for both local and remote     Option C - you already have a directory with some files and you want it to be a git repo with a local remote  mkdir -p   test git local repo option c   cd   test git local repo option c git init --bare local remote git   first setup the local remote    simulate a pre-existing directory with some files mkdir local repo   cd local repo   touch README md fileB    make a pre-existing directory a git repo and connect it with local remote cd   test git local repo option c local repo git init git add     git commit -m  inital commit on master    properly init master git remote add origin   test git local repo option c local remote git git remote -v show origin   see there is no the tracking configured  unlike with git clone   so you need to push with -u git push -u origin master   -u to set upstream    check all is set-up correctly git pull   check you can pull git branch -avv   see local branch and its remote upstream with the initial commit git remote -v show origin   see all remote branches are set to pull and push to remote git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all   see all commits and branches tips point to the same commits for both local and remote

User · Answer

You have your arguments to the remote add command reversed   git remote add  lt NAME gt   lt PATH gt    So   git remote add bak  home sas dev apps smx repo bak ontologybackend  git   See git remote --help for more information

User · Answer

It appears that your format is incorrect      If you want to share a locally created repository  or you want to take contributions from someone elses repository - if you want to   interact in any way with a new repository  it s generally easiest to   add it as a remote  You do that by running git remote add  alias     url   That adds  url  under a local remote named  alias      example   git remote   git remote add github git github com schacon hw git   git remote -v   http   gitref org remotes  remote

[git] How to add a local repo and treat it as a remote repo

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