How to clone repository from gitlab

An example of how to create and clone a GitLab repository

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How can a developer clone a GitLab repository from the server to a local machine? GitLab repositories are packaged within GitLab projects, so before you can clone a GitLab repo, a GitLab project must exist first.

If you don’t already have one, it’s very easy to create a GitLab repository.

The GitLab project and repository used in this example is name gitlab-made easy. It’s public and contains a README file.

You can add a README when you create GitLab projects.

Developers don’t have to include a README when they create a GitLab repo. However, if a developer wants to clone a GitLab repository, they might want to have something in that repository to verify. Otherwise, if the GitLab repository you clone is empty, how can you tell if the GitLab clone was successful? That’s why I put a README file in this project and so should you.

After the project is created, the next step is to open an Ubuntu terminal window and issue the ‘git clone’ command. But first, you will need the URL of the repository. A developer can find the URL by clicking on the big blue clone button on the landing page for the repository in the Git GUI. Copy the HTTP URL and then open an Ubuntu terminal window.

From the Ubuntu terminal, call the ‘git clone’ command and append the GitLab repository URL.

Clone a GitLab repository with Git

If ‘git clone’ doesn’t work, you might not have Git installed locally. Developers can solve that problem by issuing a ‘sudo apt-install git’ command. After the installation completes, simply re-issue the ‘git clone’ command to clone the GitLab repository.

After you successfully clone the GitLab repository, navigate into the newly created gitlab-made-easy folder. Inside you will see a README file, which verifies that the clone operation was successful.

Next steps would include creating new files in your Git working directory, adding those files to the index, issuing commits, creating GitLab branches and deleting those branches when they become stale. With the GitLab repository clone locally installed, the entire world of Git-based version control is now at your fingertips.

While we use an on-premises, self-hosted GitLab installation in this example, all the steps here apply equally to the cloud-based GitLab offering as well.

The source code and sample project used for these examples can be found on the gitlab-made-easy project page on GitLab.

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Repository

A repository is where you store your code and make changes to it. Your changes are tracked with version control.

Each project contains a repository.

Create a repository

Add files to a repository

Commit changes to a repository

Clone a repository

Alternatively, you can clone directly into a code editor.

Clone and open in Apple Xcode

The project is cloned onto your computer and you are prompted to open XCode.

Clone and open in Visual Studio Code

Select a folder to clone the project into.

Download the code in a repository

Repository languages

For the default branch of each repository, GitLab determines which programming languages are used. This information is displayed on the Project information page.

When new files are added, this information can take up to five minutes to update.

Add repository languages

Not all files are detected and listed on the Project information page. Documentation, vendor code, and most markup languages are excluded.

This feature can use excessive CPU. For more information, see the troubleshooting section.

Supported markup languages

README and index files

OpenAPI viewer

Repository size

The Project information page shows the size of all files in the repository. The size is updated, at most, every 15 minutes. The file size includes repository files, artifacts, and LFS.

The size can differ slightly from one instance to another due to compression, housekeeping, and other factors.

Repository contributor graph

All code contributors are displayed under your project’s Repository > Contributors.

The graph shows the contributor with the most commits to the fewest.

Repository history graph

A repository graph displays a visual history of the repository network, including branches and merges. This graph can help you visualize the Git flow strategy used in the repository.

Go to your project’s Repository > Graph.

What happens when a repository path changes

When a repository path changes, GitLab handles the transition from the old location to the new one with a redirect.

Related topics

Troubleshooting

Repository Languages: excessive CPU use

To determine which languages are in a repository’s files, GitLab uses a Ruby gem. When the gem parses a file to determine which type it is, the process can use excessive CPU. The gem contains a heuristics configuration file that defines which file extensions must be parsed.

The workaround is to specify the language to assign to specific file extensions. The same approach should also allow misidentified file types to be fixed.

Identify the language to specify. The gem contains a configuration file for known data types. To add an entry for text files, for example:

*.txt files have an entry in the heuristics file. This example prevents parsing of these files.

Make your first Git commit

This tutorial is going to teach you a little bit about how Git works. It walks you through the steps of creating your own project, editing a file, and committing changes to a Git repository from the command line.

When you’re done, you’ll have a project where you can practice using Git.

What you need

What is Git?

Before we jump into steps, let’s go over some basic Git concepts.

Git is a version control system. It’s used to track changes to files.

You store files, like code or documents, in a Git repository. When you want to edit the files, you clone the repository to your computer, make the changes, and push your changes back to the repository. In GitLab, a Git repository is located in a project.

Each time you push a change, Git records it as a unique commit. These commits make up the history of when and how a file changed, and who changed it.

If this all feels a bit overwhelming, hang in there. You’re about to see these concepts in action.

Steps

Create a sample project

Clone the repository

Now you can clone the repository in your project. Cloning a repository means you’re creating a copy on your computer, or wherever you want to store and work with the files.

On your project page, select Clone. Copy the URL for Clone with SSH.

Open a terminal on your computer and go to the directory where you want to clone the files.

Enter git clone and paste the URL:

Go to the directory:

The branch you’re on is marked with an asterisk. Press Q on your keyboard to return to the main terminal window.

Create a branch and make changes

Now that you have a copy of the repository, create your own branch so you can work on your changes independently.

Git keeps track of changed files. To confirm which files have changed, get the status.

You should get output similar to the following:

Commit and push your changes

You’ve made changes to a file in your repository. Now it’s time to record those changes by making your first commit.

Add the README.md file to the staging area. The staging area is where you put files before you commit them.

Confirm the file is staged:

You should get output similar to the following, and the filename should be in green text.

Now commit the staged file, and include a message that describes the change you made. Make sure you surround the message in double quotes (“).

The change has been committed to your branch, but your branch and its commits are still only available on your computer. No one else has access to them yet. Push your branch to GitLab:

Your branch is now available on GitLab and visible to other users in your project.

Merge your changes

Now you’re ready to merge the changes from your example-tutorial-branch branch to the default branch ( main ).

Check out the default branch for your repository.

Merge your branch into the default branch.

Push the changes.

View your changes in GitLab

You did it! You updated the README.md file in your branch, and you merged those changes into the main branch.

Above the README.md file, view the text in the Last commit column. Your commit message is displayed in this column:

Now you can return to the command line and change back to your personal branch ( git checkout example-tutorial-branch ). You can continue updating files or creating new ones. Type git status to view the status of your changes and commit with abandon.

Don’t worry if you mess things up. Everything in Git can be reverted, and if you find you can’t recover, you can always create a new branch and start again.

How to clone repository from gitlab

Git on the command line (FREE)

Git is an open-source distributed version control system. GitLab is built on top of Git.

You can do many Git operations directly in GitLab. However, the command line is required for advanced tasks, like fixing complex merge conflicts or rolling back commits.

If you’re new to Git and want to learn by working in your own project, learn how to make your first commit.

For a quick reference of Git commands, download a Git Cheat Sheet.

For more information about the advantages of working with Git and GitLab:

To help you visualize what you’re doing locally, you can install a Git GUI app.

Choose a terminal

To execute Git commands on your computer, you must open a terminal (also known as command prompt, command shell, and command line). Here are some options:

Confirm Git is installed

You can determine if Git is already installed on your computer by opening a terminal and running this command:

If Git is installed, the output is:

If your computer doesn’t recognize git as a command, you must install Git.

To start using Git from your computer, you must enter your credentials to identify yourself as the author of your work. The username and email address should match the ones you use in GitLab.

In your shell, add your user name:

Add your email address:

To check the configuration, run:

You can read more on how Git manages configurations in the Git configuration documentation.

Choose a repository

Before you begin, choose the repository you want to work in. You can use any project you have permission to access on GitLab.com or any other GitLab instance.

To use the repository in the examples on this page:

You can fork any project you have access to.

Clone a repository

When you clone a repository, the files from the remote repository are downloaded to your computer, and a connection is created.

This connection requires you to add credentials. You can either use SSH or HTTPS. SSH is recommended.

Clone with SSH when you want to authenticate only one time.

Authenticate with GitLab by following the instructions in the SSH documentation.

Go to your project’s landing page and select Clone. Copy the URL for Clone with SSH.

Open a terminal and go to the directory where you want to clone the files. Git automatically creates a folder with the repository name and downloads the files there.

Run this command:

To view the files, go to the new directory:

Clone with HTTPS

Clone with HTTPS when you want to authenticate each time you perform an operation between your computer and GitLab.

Go to your project’s landing page and select Clone. Copy the URL for Clone with HTTPS.

Open a terminal and go to the directory where you want to clone the files.

Run the following command. Git automatically creates a folder with the repository name and downloads the files there.

GitLab requests your username and password:

To view the files, go to the new directory:

Convert a local directory into a repository

You can initialize a local folder so Git tracks it as a repository.

Open the terminal in the directory you’d like to convert.

Run this command:

Add the path to your remote repository so Git can upload your files into the correct project.

You add a «remote» to tell Git which remote repository in GitLab is tied to the specific local folder on your computer. The remote tells Git where to push or pull from.

To add a remote to your local copy:

In GitLab, create a project to hold your files.

On your computer, open the terminal in the directory you’ve initialized, paste the command you copied, and press enter :

View your remote repositories

To view your remote repositories, type:

Download the latest changes in the project

To work on an up-to-date copy of the project, you pull to get all the changes made by users since the last time you cloned or pulled the project. Replace with the name of your default branch to get the main branch code, or replace it with the branch name of the branch you are currently working in.

You can learn more on how Git manages remote repositories in the Git Remote documentation.

Use branches when you:

A new branch is often called feature branch to differentiate from the default branch.

Create a branch

To create a feature branch:

Switch to a branch

All work in Git is done in a branch. You can switch between branches to see the state of the files and work in that branch.

To switch to an existing branch:

For example, to change to the main branch:

To view the differences between your local unstaged changes and the latest version that you cloned or pulled:

View the files that have changes

When you add, change, or delete files or folders, Git knows about the changes. To check which files have been changed:

Add and commit local changes

To stage a file for commit:

Confirm that the files have been added to staging:

The files should be displayed in green text.

To commit the staged files:

Stage and commit all changes

As a shortcut, you can add all local changes to staging and commit them with one command:

Send changes to GitLab.com

To push all local changes to the remote repository:

For example, to push your local commits to the main branch of the origin remote:

Sometimes Git does not allow you to push to a repository. Instead, you must force an update.

Delete all changes in the branch

To discard all changes to tracked files:

This action removes changes to files, not the files themselves. Untracked (new) files do not change.

Unstage all changes that have been added to the staging area

To unstage (remove) all files that have not been committed:

Undo most recent commit

To undo the most recent commit:

This action leaves the changed files and folders unstaged in your local repository.

WARNING: A Git commit should not be reversed if you already pushed it to the remote repository. Although you can undo a commit, the best option is to avoid the situation altogether by working carefully.

You can learn more about the different ways Git can undo changes in the Git Undoing Things documentation.

Merge a branch with default branch

When you are ready to add your changes to the default branch, you merge the feature branch into it:

In GitLab, you typically use a merge request to merge your changes, instead of using the command line.

To create a merge request from a fork to an upstream repository, see the forking workflow.

Advanced use of Git through the command line

For an introduction of more advanced Git techniques, see Git rebase, force-push, and merge conflicts.

Synchronize changes in a forked repository with the upstream

To create a copy of a repository in your namespace, you fork it. Changes made to your copy of the repository are not automatically synchronized with the original. To keep the project in sync with the original project, you need to pull from the original repository.

You can now use the upstream as a to pull new updates from the original repository, and use the origin to push local changes and create merge requests.

¶ Git и GitLab

Git — распределённая система контроля версий, которая даёт возможность разработчикам отслеживать изменения в файлах и работать совместно с другими разработчиками. Git выполняет все операции локально, что увеличивает его скорость. Кроме того, он локально сохраняет весь репозиторий в небольшой файл без потери качества данных.

GitLab — веб-приложение и система управления репозиториями программного кода для Git. Обычно GitLab используется вместе с Git и даёт разработчикам возможность сохранять их код онлайн, а затем взаимодействовать с другими разработчиками в разных проектах.

¶ Установка Git

Перед началом работы с GitLab установите себе на устройство приложение Git по ссылке.

Найти подробную инструкцию по установке Git можно здесь.

¶ Авторизация в GitLab

Авторизуйтесь в сервисе GitLab через корпоративную почту @miem.hse.ru.

Затем выберите в верхней панели раздел «Groups». Щелкните на «Your Groups». На этой странице должна находиться группа с номером и названием вашего проекта. Нажмите на нее, чтобы открыть.

Если после авторизации вы не видите группу своего проекта, то обратитесь в Техподдержку.

¶ Установка пароля

После авторизации нужно установить пароль для вашего аккаунта в GitLab.

Нажмите на вашу иконку в правом верхнем углу и перейдите в раздел «Настройки» (settings).

Затем перейдите во вкладку «Пароль» (password).

¶ Создание репозитория

¶ Что такое репозиторий?

Репозиторий (хранилище) — место, где хранятся и поддерживаются данные. Чаще всего данные в репозитории хранятся в виде файлов.

В GitLab используются проекты — структура, включающая в себя репозиторий Git, настройки, обсуждения и другие сопутствующие инструменты.

Узнать более подробную информацию можно перейдя по ссылке: что такое репозиторий?

¶ Как создавать репозиторий?

Шаг 1. Зайдите в свой аккаунт на GitLab и нажмите на иконку «Groups» в верхней панели.

Шаг 2. Затем перейдите во вкладку «Your group».

Шаг 3. Выберите команду с названием вашего учебного проекта.

Если вы не видите в разделе «Your group» команду вашего проекта, то обратитесь в Техподдержку.

Шаг 4. Вы перешли на страницу своей команды. Теперь нужно создать репозиторий. Для этого нажмите на кнопку «New project».

Если у вас уже есть нужный вам репозиторий, то перейдите к шагу 6.

Шаг 5. Напишите название вашего репозитория и добавьте нужные данные. Готово!

Шаг 6.

Переместить проект может человек только с ролью «Maintainer»(подробнее в разделе участники и роли)

Если проект был создан на другой платформе (Github, Bitbucket и т.д.), то при создании нового репозитория откройте вверху вкладку «Import project» вместо «Blank project«, а затем выберите » Repo by URL«.

Нужно обязательно выбрать «Repo by URL«, в остальных случаях импорт не всегда проходит успешно

При этом вся информация по коммитам будет перенесена. Однако, чтобы она корректно отображалась и учитывалась в статистике, необходимо, чтобы коммиты были сделаны с почты @miem.hse.ru. Если коммиты были сделаны с другой почты, то необходимо добавить ее адрес в личном кабинете в Git.miem.hse.ru (подробнее в блоке «Коммит»)

¶ Локальная работа с репозиторием

Откройте нужный репозиторий и нажмите на кнопку «Clone». Скопируйте ссылку.

¶ Переход в консоль

Далее вам нужно перейти в консоль.

Как это сделать?

¶ Клонирование репозитория

То есть мы просим Git создать копию репозитория, который находится по ссылке ( ), и можем указать путь к директории, в которую Git скопирует репозиторий ( ). Если его не указать, директория создастся в каталоге, где вы находитесь, когда выполняете команду и будет называться так же, как и сам репозиторий.

Клонирование репозитория осуществляется командой:
git clone

После вы должны ввести имя пользователя и пароль от своей учетной записи в GitLab.

Вы можете в любой момент перейти к папке с вашим репозиторием с помощью команды:
cd путь/к/директории

Следующая команда показывает, что файл «README.md» скачался и лежит в нашей папке:
dir (ls в Unix)

клонирование репозитория прошло успешно

¶ Заполнение данных

¶ Добавление файлов в репозиторий

Это означает, что у вас чистый рабочий каталог. Другими словами, в нем нет отслеживаемых измененных файлов. Git также не обнаружил неотслеживаемых файлов, в противном случае они бы были перечислены здесь.

Если у вас уже есть некоторые файлы, которые нужно перенести в репозиторий, вы можете скопировать их в рабочий каталог.

¶ Встроенный редактор GitLab

¶ Изменения в существующем файле

Чтобы внести изменения в файл, который скопировался вместе с репозиторием, просто перейдите в папку с копией репозитория на компьютере и откройте этот файл. В нашем случае, это файл «README.md». Он должен содержать описание репозитория, отображаемое на его странице на сайте. Добавьте в него новую строку и сохраните:

Мы видим, что у нас есть недобавленные изменения.

¶ Что такое коммит?

Теперь все нужные изменения добавлены в наш локальный репозиторий.

¶ Добавление нового файла в удаленный репозиторий

Рассмотрим пример:
Создадим новый файл «text.txt» в папке «main» и выполним следующие действия:

Шаг 1. Добавим файл в нашу папку main;

Шаг 2. Зафиксируем изменения и узнаем текущее состояние файла;

Шаг 3. Отправим изменения в локальное хранилище (то есть выполним коммит).

Заходим в GitLab и видим, что отправка данных прошла успешно.

¶ Отмена действий

Укажите, какой файл необходимо удалить из ожидания на коммит.

¶ Проблемы при входе

Источники информации:

• http://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/repository/
• http://docs.gitlab.com/ee/tutorials/make_your_first_git_commit.html
• http://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlabhq/blob/master/doc/gitlab-basics/start-using-git.md
• http://wiki.miem.hse.ru/docs/miem-digital/git/quickstart