What s the difference between git clone --mirror and git clone --bare

Question

The git clone help page has this to say about --mirror:

Set up a mirror of the remote repository. This implies --bare.

But doesn't go into detail about how the --mirror clone is different from a --bare clone.

User · Answer

git clone --bare https   github com example  This command will make the new  quot example quot  directory itself the  GIT DIR  instead of example  git   Also the branch heads at the remote are copied directly to corresponding local branch heads  without mapping  When this option is used  neither remote-tracking branches nor the related configuration variables are created    git clone --mirror https   github com example  As with a bare clone  a mirrored clone includes all remote branches and tags  but all local references  including remote-tracking branches  notes etc   will be overwritten each time you fetch  so it will always be the same as the original repository

User · Answer

My tests with git-2 0 0 today indicate that the --mirror option does not copy hooks  the config file  the description file  the info exclude file  and at least in my test case a few refs  which I don t understand   I would not call it a  functionally identical copy  interchangeable with the original    -bash-3 2  git --version git version 2 0 0 -bash-3 2  git clone --mirror  git hooks Cloning into bare repository  hooks git     done   -bash-3 2  diff --brief -r  git hooks git hooks git Files  git hooks git config and hooks git config differ Files  git hooks git description and hooks git description differ     Only in hooks git hooks  applypatch-msg sample     Only in  git hooks git hooks  post-receive     Files  git hooks git info exclude and hooks git info exclude differ     Files  git hooks git packed-refs and hooks git packed-refs differ Only in  git hooks git refs heads  fake branch Only in  git hooks git refs heads  master Only in  git hooks git refs  meta

User · Answer

A nuanced explanation from the GitHub documentation on Duplicating a Repository:

As with a bare clone, a mirrored clone includes all remote branches and tags, but all local references will be overwritten each time you fetch, so it will always be the same as the original repository.

User · Answer

git clone --mirror  URL   is a short-hand for    git clone --bare  URL    cd   basename  URL   amp  amp  git remote add --mirror fetch origin  URL     Copied directly from here   How the current man-page puts it      Compared to --bare  --mirror not only maps local branches of the source to local branches of the target  it maps all refs  including remote branches  notes etc   and sets up a refspec configuration such that all these refs are overwritten by a git remote update in the target repository

User · Answer

The difference is that when using --mirror  all refs are copied as-is  This means everything  remote-tracking branches  notes  refs originals    backups from filter-branch   The cloned repo has it all  It s also set up so that a remote update will re-fetch everything from the origin  overwriting the copied refs   The idea is really to mirror the repository  to have a total copy  so that you could for example host your central repo in multiple places  or back it up  Think of just straight-up copying the repo  except in a much more elegant git way   The new documentation pretty much says all this      --mirror      Set up a mirror of the source repository   This implies --bare  Compared to --bare  --mirror not only maps local branches of the source to local branches of the target  it maps all refs  including remote branches  notes etc   and sets up a refspec configuration such that all these refs are overwritten by a git remote update in the target repository    My original answer also noted the differences between a bare clone and a normal  non-bare  clone - the non-bare clone sets up remote tracking branches  only creating a local branch for HEAD  while the bare clone copies the branches directly   Suppose origin has a few branches  master  HEAD   next  pu  and maint   some tags  v1  v2  v3   some remote branches  devA master  devB master   and some other refs  refs foo bar  refs foo baz  which might be notes  stashes  other devs  namespaces  who knows      git clone origin-url  non-bare   You will get all of the tags copied  a local branch master  HEAD  tracking a remote branch origin master  and remote branches origin next  origin pu  and origin maint  The tracking branches are set up so that if you do something like git fetch origin  they ll be fetched as you expect  Any remote branches  in the cloned remote  and other refs are completely ignored  git clone --bare origin-url  You will get all of the tags copied  local branches master  HEAD   next  pu  and maint  no remote tracking branches  That is  all branches are copied as is  and it s set up completely independent  with no expectation of fetching again  Any remote branches  in the cloned remote  and other refs are completely ignored  git clone --mirror origin-url  Every last one of those refs will be copied as-is  You ll get all the tags  local branches master  HEAD   next  pu  and maint  remote branches devA master and devB master  other refs refs foo bar and refs foo baz  Everything is exactly as it was in the cloned remote  Remote tracking is set up so that if you run git remote update all refs will be overwritten from origin  as if you d just deleted the mirror and recloned it  As the docs originally said  it s a mirror  It s supposed to be a functionally identical copy  interchangeable with the original

User · Answer

I add a picture  show configdifference between mirror and bare   The left is bare  right is mirror  You can be clear  mirror s config file have fetch key  which means you can update it by git remote update or git fetch --all

User · Answer

A clone copies the refs from the remote and stuffs them into a subdirectory named 'these are the refs that the remote has'.

A mirror copies the refs from the remote and puts them into its own top level - it replaces its own refs with those of the remote.

This means that when someone pulls from your mirror and stuffs the mirror's refs into thier subdirectory, they will get the same refs as were on the original. The result of fetching from an up-to-date mirror is the same as fetching directly from the initial repo.

[git] What's the difference between git clone --mirror and git clone --bare

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