Scenario 2 - Clone an existing project

The remote already exists and you want the project

Scenario: A remote repository already exists, and you need a copy of the version history on your computer. You could be a part of a team working on the same project, or maybe you created a new project in lab and you need to check it out from your home computer.

git clone

We already ran through this scenario when setting up Assignment 4 in class. I put a sample repository on GitHub, and you “cloned” it in class.

Let’s start a new project to illustrate the process.

  1. In your Terminal, navigate to your seng-201/ directory.
    • When you clone, it will create a new subdirectory for you. So you need to be in the parent of where you want the workspace to live. We want to be in seng-201/ for this example.
  2. Run git clone https://github.com/llayman/git-remote-clone

You will see output similar to:

➜  ~ git clone https://github.com/llayman/git-remote-clone          
Cloning into 'git-remote-clone'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 4, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (4/4), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
remote: Total 4 (delta 0), reused 4 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
Receiving objects: 100% (4/4), done.
➜  ~

You will also have a new subdirectory named git-remote-clone inside seng-201/.

git clone executing and creating a new repo
What happened?

  1. git clone went to the target URL looking for a repo. It found it, and made a copy of the version history on your local computer in the git-remote-clone/ subdirectory.
  2. Git created a local copy of the main branch, which is linked to the remote main branch
  3. Git checked out the main branch into the workspace folder git-remote-clone/.

You are now ready to open git-remote-clone/ in Visual Studio Code or other editor and start working. You edit, stage, commit, make branches, and push as usual.

Do not edit the files yet. Leave them in their initial version to illustrate the next lab.

Knowledge Check

  • (Question) What does the git clone command do?
  • (Question) How does git clone handle creating a subdirectory for the repository?
  • (Question) After cloning, what branch is typically checked out in your local copy?
  • (Question) Does git clone also copy files into your workspace?
  • (Question) How is the local main branch linked to the remote main branch after cloning?
  • (Challenge) Clone an existing repository to your local machine and verify the directory structure.
  • (Challenge) Open the cloned project in an editor and review its initial state without making changes.
Last modified November 15, 2024.