NAME

datalad clone - obtain a dataset (copy) from a URL or local directory

SYNOPSIS

datalad clone [-h] [-d DATASET] [-D DESCRIPTION] [--reckless [auto|ephemeral|shared-...]] SOURCE [PATH]

DESCRIPTION

The purpose of this command is to obtain a new clone (copy) of a dataset and place it into a not-yet-existing or empty directory. As such CLONE provides a strict subset of the functionality offered by INSTALL. Only a single dataset can be obtained, and immediate recursive installation of subdatasets is not supported. However, once a (super)dataset is installed via CLONE, any content, including subdatasets can be obtained by a subsequent GET command.

Primary differences over a direct `git clone` call are 1) the automatic initialization of a dataset annex (pure Git repositories are equally supported); 2) automatic registration of the newly obtained dataset as a subdataset (submodule), if a parent dataset is specified; 3) support for additional resource identifiers (DataLad resource identifiers as used on datasets.datalad.org, and RIA store URLs as used for store.datalad.org - optionally in specific versions as identified by a branch or a tag; see examples); and 4) automatic configurable generation of alternative access URL for common cases (such as appending '.git' to the URL in case the accessing the base URL failed).

In case the clone is registered as a subdataset, the original URL passed to CLONE is recorded in .GITMODULES of the parent dataset in addition to the resolved URL used internally for git-clone. This allows to preserve datalad specific URLs like ria+ssh://... for subsequent calls to GET if the subdataset was locally removed later on.

SEEALSO

handbook:3-001 (http://handbook.datalad.org/symbols)
More information on Remote Indexed Archive (RIA) stores

OPTIONS

SOURCE

URL, DataLad resource identifier, local path or instance of dataset to be cloned. Constraints: value must be a string

PATH

path to clone into. If no PATH is provided a destination path will be derived from a source URL similar to git clone.

-h, --help, --help-np

show this help message. --help-np forcefully disables the use of a pager for displaying the help message

-d DATASET, --dataset DATASET

(parent) dataset to clone into. If given, the newly cloned dataset is registered as a subdataset of the parent. Also, if given, relative paths are interpreted as being relative to the parent dataset, and not relative to the working directory. Constraints: Value must be a Dataset or a valid identifier of a Dataset (e.g. a path)

-D DESCRIPTION, --description DESCRIPTION

short description to use for a dataset location. Its primary purpose is to help humans to identify a dataset copy (e.g., "mike's dataset on lab server"). Note that when a dataset is published, this information becomes available on the remote side. Constraints: value must be a string

--reckless [auto|ephemeral|shared-...]

set up the dataset in a potentially unsafe way for performance, or access reasons -- use with care, any dataset is marked as 'untrusted'. The reckless mode is stored in a dataset's local configuration under 'datalad.clone.reckless', and will be inherited to any of its subdatasets. Supported modes are: ['auto']: hard-link files between local clones. In-place modification in any clone will alter original annex content. ['ephemeral']: symlink annex to origin's annex and discard local availability info via git-annex-dead 'here'. Shares an annex between origin and clone w/o git-annex being aware of it. In case of a change in origin you need to update the clone before you're able to save new content on your end. Alternative to 'auto' when hardlinks are not an option, or number of consumed inodes needs to be minimized. Please note, that this is meant to be used with either non-bare repositories or a RIA store as origin! Do not come up with your own usecase unless you are absolutely sure you know your git-annex internals very well! ['shared-<mode>']: set up repository and annex permission to enable multi-user access. This disables the standard write protection of annex'ed files. <mode> can be any value support by 'git init --shared=', such as 'group', or 'all'. Constraints: value must be one of (None, True, False, 'auto', 'ephemeral'), or value must start with 'shared-'

AUTHORS

datalad is developed by The DataLad Team and Contributors <team@datalad.org>.