Using git to get just the latest revision

Question

I want to track a project that uses git. I don't want to clone the full repository and the full history, I just want the latest revision, and I want to be able to update to new revisions from the remote project.

I have tried using git clone, but this creates a copy of the entire repository (huge file size), and tracking changes makes the disk space even bigger (100mb of files now takes up over 2gb).

I'm not going to be submitting patches, and I don't need the history. I just want the latest version like in subversion.

Is this possible in git?

Answer 1

Use git clone with the --depth option set to 1 to create a shallow clone with a history truncated to the latest commit.

For example:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/user/repo.git

To also initialize and update any nested submodules, also pass --recurse-submodules and to clone them shallowly, also pass --shallow-submodules.

For example:

git clone --depth 1 --recurse-submodules --shallow-submodules https://github.com/user/repo.git