how to create a new git repository from an existing one

Question

I have a remote git repository that really replaced everything we had in another older SCM. Many projects and products have been added to the repository over the years.

Answer 1

Pull down the branch like normal and then push the branch to a new repository that you have created using git init. You would use code that looks something like:

git push url:///new/repo.git TheBranchFolder

This method also keeps all of your previous changes if that is a plus for the situation.

Answer 2

If you're not worried about losing history, do a git checkout mybranch and then copy the directory contents to another folder. Within that folder, delete the .git folder and then:

git init; git commit -a -m "Imported from project Y"

Answer 3

In order to create a new Git repository from an existing repository one would typically create a new bare repository and push one or more branches from the existing to the new repository.

The following steps illustrates this:

1. Create a new repository. It must be bare in order for you to push to it.

   $ mkdir /path/to/new_repo
   $ cd /path/to/new_repo
   $ git --bare init

   Note: ensure that your new repository is accessible from the existing repository. There are many ways to do this; let's assume that you have made it accessible via ssh://my_host/new_repo.

2. Push a branch from your existing repository. For example let's say we want to push the branch topic1 from the existing repository and name it master in the new repository.

   $ cd /path/to/existing_repo
   $ git push ssh://my_host/new_repo +topic1:master

This technique allows you to keep the history from the existing branch.

Note: the new repository is effectively a new remote repository. If you want to work with the new repository you must clone it. The following will clone the new repo into a local working directory called new_repo:

$ git clone ssh://my_host/new_repo

In this example, when you clone the new repository you will see that the master branch is a copy of the topic1 branch of the old repository.