768

Say I have a repository on git.fedorahosted.org and I want to clone this into my account at github to have my own playground aside from the more "official" repo on fedorahosted. What would be the steps to initially copy that over? Within github there is this nice "fork" button, but I can't use this for obvious reasons.

And how would I track changes in the fedorahosted repo into the github one?

19 Answers 19

1089
  1. Create a new repo at github.
  2. Clone the repo from fedorahosted to your local machine.
  3. git remote rename origin upstream
  4. git remote add origin URL_TO_GITHUB_REPO
  5. git push origin master

Now you can work with it just like any other github repo. To pull in patches from upstream, simply run git pull upstream master && git push origin master.

GitHub has recently renamed its master branch to main so (depending on whether your branch is called master or main) in step 5 you might have to use git push origin main and for pulling patches from upstream git pull upstream main && git push origin main, otherwise you will receive an error message.

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18 Comments

There is no reason to rename the original origin, just call the new play-ground something else.
@tcaswell Technically no, but it is a strong convention that origin points to the canonical remote location. In this case, the github location would presumably be the canonical.
Maybe I should post a different question but I think you guys are discussing what I want. I'd like to add a new remote, not replace the existing one so I can continue to pull from the old repository but push any changes to the new one.
@ThatAintWorking You probably should open a new question, but in short - you can add any number of remotes with the command git remote add. You can then push to one of them by explicitly stating the remote in git push. E.g. git push foobar master to push the current branch to master on remote foobar.
Didn't push all my branches, just master. The mirror answer worked for all the branches
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172

There is a deleted answer on this question that had a useful link: https://help.github.com/articles/duplicating-a-repository

The gist is

  1. create the new empty repository (say, on github)
  2. make a bare clone of the repository in some temporary location
  3. change to the temporary location
  4. perform a mirror-push to the new repository
  5. change to another location and delete the temporary location

OP's example:

On your local machine

$ cd $HOME
$ git clone --bare https://git.fedorahosted.org/the/path/to/my_repo.git
$ cd my_repo.git
$ git push --mirror https://github.com/my_username/my_repo.git
$ cd ..
$ rm -rf my_repo.git

3 Comments

What is the benefit of the bare clone and the mirror push over simply adding and pushing to another remote? Is it that all branches will be pushed and not just the current branch? (If so, this seems like a limitation of the accepted answer that should be noted.)
This was exactly the info I was looking for, the --bare / --mirror is usually what people want to perform! This is an important answer! Thanks
Great! Definetly the most correct answer on topic question. Thanks! If I don't do it like this, I always get error: failed to push some refs to 'https://github.com/username/testrep.git'
81

To push your existing repo into different, you need to:

  1. Clone the original repo first.

    git clone https://git.fedorahosted.org/cgit/rhq/rhq.git
    
  2. Push the cloned sources to your new repository:

    cd rhq
    git push https://github.com/user/example master:master
    

You may change master:master into source:destination branch.


If you want to push specific commit (branch), then do:

  1. On the original repo, create and checkout a new branch:

    git checkout -b new_branch
    
  2. Choose and reset to the point which you want to start with:

    git log # Find the interesting hash
    git reset 4b62bdc9087bf33cc01d0462bf16bbf396369c81 --hard
    

    Alternatively select the commit by git cherry-pick to append into existing HEAD.

  3. Then push to your new repo:

    git push https://github.com/user/example new_branch:master
    

    If you're rebasing, use -f for force push (not recommended). Run git reflog to see history of changes.

3 Comments

the git push ... old_branch_name:new_branch_name allows you to push a feature branch from the old repository as the main branch in the new repository. Usefull!
This was the simplest way for me to do it.
Note: this way you'll get a new repo with only the selected branch copied. Other branches from the source repository will not be cloned. Tags will also NOT be cloned at all.
78

If you have Existing Git repository:

cd existing_repo
git remote rename origin old-origin
git remote add origin https://gitlab.com/newproject
git push -u origin --all
git push -u origin --tags

3 Comments

Just to clarify, --all will push all branches
Great, very simple method to copy local repository to remote. Thanks. Make sure the remote folder exists with a git repository. I used git init --bare on the remote server.
git push -u origin <branch-name> to push only the branch
37

I found a solution using set-url which is concise and fairly easy to understand:

  1. create a new repo at Github
  2. cd into the existing repository on your local machine (if you haven't cloned it yet, then do this first)
  3. git remote set-url origin https://github.com/user/example.git
  4. git push -u origin master

Comments

22

Do you really want to simply push your local repository (with its local branches, etc.) to the new remote or do you really want to mirror the old remote (with all its branches, tags, etc) on the new remote? If the latter here's a great blog on How to properly mirror a git repository.

I strongly encourage you to read the blog for some very important details, but the short version is this:

In a new directory run these commands:

git clone --mirror [email protected]/upstream-repository.git
cd upstream-repository.git
git push --mirror [email protected]/new-location.git

1 Comment

I think this is the link: blog.plataformatec.com.br/2013/05/…
16

Try this How to move a full Git repository

  1. Create a local repository in the temp-dir directory using:

    git clone temp-dir

  2. Go into the temp-dir directory.

  3. To see a list of the different branches in ORI do:

    git branch -a
    
  4. Checkout all the branches that you want to copy from ORI to NEW using:

    git checkout branch-name
    
  5. Now fetch all the tags from ORI using:

    git fetch --tags
    
  6. Before doing the next step make sure to check your local tags and branches using the following commands:

    git tag
    
    
    git branch -a
    
  7. Now clear the link to the ORI repository with the following command:

    git remote rm origin
    
  8. Now link your local repository to your newly created NEW repository using the following command:

    git remote add origin <url to NEW repo>
    
  9. Now push all your branches and tags with these commands:

    git push origin --all
    
    
    git push --tags
    
  10. You now have a full copy from your ORI repo.

1 Comment

I liked this since it helped me duplicate a repo with a specific subset of branches, some of them being superfluous. I note that doing this with a GitHub-based repo seems to make it automatically create a PR for each non-default branch, and you can just close them; not sure if possible to stop the PRs from coming.
16

Simply point the new repo by changing the GIT repo URL with this command:

git remote set-url origin [new repo URL]

Example: git remote set-url origin [email protected]:Batman/batmanRepoName.git

Now, pushing and pulling are linked to the new REPO.

Then push normally like so:

git push -u origin master

Comments

9

This is has helped me to push my local project into a different repo on git

 git push https://github.com/yourusername/yourgithubproject.git master:master

2 Comments

clean; neat; works; simple
Simplest indeed! An update since GitHub is not accepting password-login anymore: one can use git push [email protected]:repo/project.git master:master instead, provided all SSH setup for repo is in place.
5

Link a local repository to a different remote repository

1- Delete all connection with the remote repository: Inside the project folder:

  • git rm .git (Remove all data from local repository)
  • git status (I must say that it is not linked to any, something like an error)

2- Link to a new remote repository

  • git init To start a local repository
  • git remote add origin urlrepository.git To link with remote repository
  • git remote -v To confirm that it is linked to the remote repository

3- Add changes to the local repository and push to the remote repository

  • git pull or git pull origin master --allow-unrelated-histories if git history is different in both local and remote repo.
  • git add.
  • git commit -m" Message "
  • git push -u origin master

that's it!

1 Comment

Careful of deleting the .git directory. All data means all git data, even the git history. I already had some scenarios where i really need to check why something was done. This is not possible anymore if the .git directory is deleted.
5

First, create your repo on Github. Then change directory to the checked-out source repository - suppose you want to push the master branch. You need to execute 5 simple steps:

git remote add origin2 https://github.com/user/example.git
git checkout master
git pull
git push origin2 master
git remote remove origin2

This creates the link between your local repo and the new remote, check out and pulls the source branch (to ensure that it has the latest), then pushes the current branch, finally unlinks the local repo from the remote.

Your local repo will be intact after this, you can use it as before. If you need to push multiple branches, repeat the checkout-pull-push steps as many times as you need, just change the branch name accordingly.

Comments

5

Here is a manual way to do git remote set-url origin [new repo URL]:

  1. Clone the repository: git clone <old remote>

  2. Create a GitHub repository

  3. Open <repository>/.git/config

    $ git config -e
    
    [core]
        repositoryformatversion = 0
        filemode = false
        bare = false
        logallrefupdates = true
        symlinks = false
        ignorecase = true
    [remote "origin"]
        url = <old remote>
        fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
    [branch "master"]
        remote = origin
        merge = refs/heads/master
    

    and change the remote (the url option)

    [remote "origin"]
        url = <new remote>
        fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
    
  4. Push the repository: git push

You can also use both/multiple remotes.

Comments

4

The way I've accomplished this is:

  1. Create a new repo on github (new-repo.git)
  2. cd old-repo/ on local machine and fetch all new changes
  3. git push -u https://github.com/[username]/new-repo.git main -f
  4. Clone your new remote repo https://github.com/[username]/new-repo.git to your local environment

I've found this a simple way to essentially copy an old remote repo into a new remote repo.

Comments

3

To push an existing repository from the command line

git remote add origin https://github.com/AyadiAkrem/teachandgo.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Comments

2

I have had the same problem.

In my case, since I have the original repository in my local machine, I have made a copy in a new folder without any hidden file (.git, .gitignore).

Finally I have added the .gitignore file to the new created folder.

Then I have created and added the new repository from the local path (in my case using GitHub Desktop).

Comments

2

Visual studio 2022 and default git extension works flawlessly without even need for a single line of command.

Step 1: Go to git settings

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Step 2: Add new origin pointing to different repository in git/azure

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Step 3: Now you have option to push to new origin in different repository in git/azure

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Now there is a new branch in new repository enter image description here

Comments

2

Well, a lot of answers. Mine will be one of the shortest. You want to push to a new server, but also to keep all the history and branches:

git clone --mirror https://git1.com/project/repo_name.git

cd repo_name

git branch

git remote set-url origin https://git2.com/project/repo_name.git

git push --mirror

Comments

0

If you want to duplicate your GitHub repository so that you have two identical repositories on GitHub:

git clone [existing-github-repo-url]

git remote add duplicate [new-github-repo-url]

git push duplicate master

Comments

0

This was my answer to moving from Microsoft Team Foundation Server to Azure DevOps. It is PowerShell script.

    #RUN SCRIPT FROM FOLDER YOU WANT A NEW GIT PROJECT CREATED
#
#1. Ask for URL that needs to be cloned
#2. Ask for branch to clone
#3. Ask what to call the new GIT Project folder
#
#4. RUNS THE CLONE
#
#5. Ask if you want to get all branches from remote
#    If YES:
#    6. Gets all branches
#    7. Ask if you want to remove the remote
#        If YES:
#        8. Removes remote
#        9. Ask if you want to add a new remote
#            IF YES:
#            10. Ask for new remote URL
#            11. PUSHES A MIRROR OF LOCAL REPO TO NEW REMOTE 
    


$RemoteRepo = Read-Host "URL TO REPO THAT NEEDS TO BE CLONE"
$CloneBranch = Read-Host "BRANCH TO CLONE"
$CloneFolderName = Read-Host "NEW FOLDER NAME"
git clone -b $CloneBranch $RemoteRepo 

$NeedAllBranches = Read-Host "DO YOU NEED ALL BRANCHES? (YES OR NO)"

if ($NeedAllBranches -eq 'YES')
    {
    cd ((Get-Location).Path + "\" + $CloneFolderName)
    foreach ($branch in (git branch -r))
    {git checkout -b $branch.Trim().Replace("origin/","")} 
    $RemoveRemote = Read-Host "DO YOU NEED TO REMOVE REMOTE?"
    if ($RemoveRemote -eq 'YES')
        {
        git remote remove origin
        $AddNewRemote = Read-Host "DO YOU WANT TO ADD A NEW REMOTE AND PUSH?"
            if ($AddNewRemote -eq 'YES')
            {
                $NewRemoteURL = Read-Host "URL TO NEW REMOTE"
                git remote add origin $NewRemoteURL
                git push --mirror
            }
        }
    else {
        Write-Host "NOT REMOVING REMOTE"
    }    
}
else {
    Write-Host "NOT GETTING ALL VERSIONS"}

Comments

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