How to git bundle a complete repo

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I need to transfer a complete repo to a new non-networked machine, preferable as a single file entity. The git bundle allows a git fetch, git pull style operation in a sneakernet environment but appears to assume that you already have a working version of the repo on the destination machine.

What is the right invocation to:

  1. Bundle all the branches in the current repo
  2. Start up the new repo on the destination directory, i.e. get the root commit correctly installed

I've sent a patch upstream to clarify:

`git clone` can use any bundle created without negative refspecs
(e.g., `new`, but not `old..new`).
If you want to match `git clone --mirror`, which would clone other
refs such as `refs/remotes/*`, use `--all`.
If you want to provide the same set of refs that a clone directly
from the source repository would get, use `--branches --tags` for
the `<git-rev-list-args>`.

So $ git bundle create repo.bundle --branches --tags best matches cloning.

$ git bundle create repo.bundle --all will provide a mirror image of your source machine, including it's remote refs.

git
4 Answers

With Git 2.34 (Q4 2021), git bundle create is further clarified:

See commit 1d9c8da, commit 0bb92f3, commit 9ab80dd, commit 5c8273d (31 Jul 2021) by Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason (avar).
(Merged by Junio C Hamano -- gitster -- in commit f19b275, 24 Aug 2021)

bundle doc: elaborate on object prerequisites

Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason

Split out the discussion bout "object prerequisites" into its own section, and add some more examples of the common cases.

See 2e0afaf ("Add git-bundle: move objects and references by archive", 2007-02-22, Git v1.5.1-rc1 -- merge) for the introduction of the documentation being changed here.

git bundle now includes in its man page:

OBJECT PREREQUISITES

When creating bundles it is possible to create a self-contained bundle that can be unbundled in a repository with no common history, as well as providing negative revisions to exclude objects needed in the earlier parts of the history.

Feeding a revision such as new to git bundle create will create a bundle file that contains all the objects reachable from the revision new. That bundle can be unbundled in any repository to obtain a full history that leads to the revision new:

$ git bundle create full.bundle new

A revision range such as old..new will produce a bundle file that will require the revision old (and any objects reachable from it) to exist for the bundle to be "unbundle"-able:

$ git bundle create full.bundle old..new

A self-contained bundle without any prerequisites can be extracted into anywhere, even into an empty repository, or be cloned from (i.e., new, but not old..new).

git bundle now includes in its man page:

The 'git bundle verify' command can be used to check whether your recipient repository has the required prerequisite commits for a bundle.

VonC_63090
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