Fork file from git repository without repo cloning

Question

Is there a way to unlock a file from an external git repository without cloning the entire repo?

Answer 1

The closest thing you can do is using sparse control , which means using Git 1.7+, and you still need to clone the repo (or use the clone --depth option to make a small clone). By going mainly from this answer , you can do the following:

 git clone --no-checkout <URL to git repo> myrepo cd myrepo git config core.sparseCheckout true vim .git/info/sparse-checkout # Add files you want checked out git checkout <branch you want> 

If you have Git version 1.7.7-rc0 or later, you can set configuration parameters using the clone command:

 git clone --config core.sparseCheckout=true --no-checkout <URL to git repo> myrepo 

Also see the following:

• Partial Clone with Git and Mercury
• How to get one file from a specific version in Git?
• Permitted validation in Git 1.7.0?
• Is it possible to do a sparse checkout without first checking the entire repository?

Answer 2

Unlike Subversion, git does not support partial checks.