Merge branch 'jc/maint-combine-diff-pre-context'

[git.git] / Documentation / git-clone.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/git-clone.txt b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
index a0a10e3e26830d59cbb6eaddaab60a83fa601aa9..7973e6af4c2aa31ea9ae9b91b4c4cd5ee2256762 100644 (file)
--- a/Documentation/git-clone.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
@@ -9,9 +9,10 @@ git-clone - Clone a repository into a new directory
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'git-clone' [--template=<template_directory>] [-l [-s]] [-q] [-n] [--bare]
+'git-clone' [--template=<template_directory>]
+         [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare]
          [-o <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
-         [--depth <depth>] <repository> [<directory>]
+         [--depth <depth>] [--] <repository> [<directory>]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
@@ -40,8 +41,19 @@ OPTIONS
        this flag bypasses normal "git aware" transport
        mechanism and clones the repository by making a copy of
        HEAD and everything under objects and refs directories.
-       The files under .git/objects/ directory are hardlinked
-       to save space when possible.
+       The files under `.git/objects/` directory are hardlinked
+       to save space when possible.  This is now the default when
+       the source repository is specified with `/path/to/repo`
+       syntax, so it essentially is a no-op option.  To force
+       copying instead of hardlinking (which may be desirable
+       if you are trying to make a back-up of your repository),
+       but still avoid the usual "git aware" transport
+       mechanism, `--no-hardlinks` can be used.
+
+--no-hardlinks::
+       Optimize the cloning process from a repository on a
+       local filesystem by copying files under `.git/objects`
+       directory.
 
 --shared::
 -s::
@@ -50,14 +62,28 @@ OPTIONS
        .git/objects/info/alternates to share the objects
        with the source repository.  The resulting repository
        starts out without any object of its own.
++
+*NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
+it unless you understand what it does. If you clone your
+repository using this option and then delete branches (or use any
+other git command that makes any existing commit unreferenced) in the
+source repository, some objects may become unreferenced (or dangling).
+These objects may be removed by normal git operations (such as git-commit[1])
+which automatically call git-gc[1]. If these objects are removed and
+were referenced by the cloned repository, then the cloned repository
+will become corrupt.
+
+
 
 --reference <repository>::
        If the reference repository is on the local machine
        automatically setup .git/objects/info/alternates to
        obtain objects from the reference repository.  Using
        an already existing repository as an alternate will
-       require less objects to be copied from the repository
+       require fewer objects to be copied from the repository
        being cloned, reducing network and local storage costs.
++
+*NOTE*: see NOTE to --shared option.
 
 --quiet::
 -q::
@@ -99,11 +125,11 @@ OPTIONS
 
 --depth <depth>::
        Create a 'shallow' clone with a history truncated to the
-       specified number of revs.  A shallow repository has
+       specified number of revisions.  A shallow repository has a
        number of limitations (you cannot clone or fetch from
        it, nor push from nor into it), but is adequate if you
-       want to only look at near the tip of a large project
-       with a long history, and would want to send in a fixes
+       are only interested in the recent history of a large project
+       with a long history, and would want to send in fixes
        as patches.
 
 <repository>::
@@ -118,6 +144,7 @@ OPTIONS
        for "host.xz:foo/.git").  Cloning into an existing directory
        is not allowed.
 
+:git-clone: 1
 include::urls.txt[]
 
 Examples
@@ -178,4 +205,4 @@ Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 
 GIT
 ---
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite