version control - Git clone without .git directory

Question

Is there a flag to pass to git when doing a clone, say don't clone the .git directory? If not, how about a flag to delete the .git directory after the clone?

Answer 1

Use

git clone --depth=1 --branch=master git://someserver/somerepo dirformynewrepo
rm -rf ./dirformynewrepo/.git

• The depth option will make sure to copy the least bit of history possible to get that repo.
• The branch option is optional and if not specified would get the default branch.
• The second line will make your directory dirformynewrepo not a Git repository any more.
• If you're doing recursive submodule clone, the depth and branch parameter don't apply to the submodules.