Convert a Git folder to a submodule retrospectively?

Question

Quite often it is the case that you\'re writing a project of some kind, and after a while it becomes clear that some component of the project is actually useful as a standal

Answer 1

I know this is an old thread, but the answers here squash any related commits in other branches.

A simple way to clone and keep all those extra branches and commits:

1 - Make sure you have this git alias

git config --global alias.clone-branches '! git branch -a | sed -n "/\/HEAD /d; /\/master$/d; /remotes/p;" | xargs -L1 git checkout -t'

2 - Clone the remote, pull all branches, change the remote, filter your directory, push

git clone git@github.com:user/existing-repo.git new-repo
cd new-repo
git clone-branches
git remote rm origin
git remote add origin git@github.com:user/new-repo.git
git remote -v
git filter-branch --subdirectory-filter my_directory/ -- --all
git push --all
git push --tags