git-http-fetch(1) Git Manual git-http-fetch(1)
NAME
git-http-fetch - Download from a remote Git repository via HTTP
SYNOPSIS
git http-fetch [-c] [-t] [-a] [-d] [-v] [-w <filename>] [--recover] [--stdin | --packfile=<hash> | <commit>] <URL>
DESCRIPTION
Downloads a remote Git repository via HTTP.
This command always gets all objects. Historically, there were three
options -a, -c and -t for choosing which objects to download. They are
now silently ignored.
OPTIONS
commit-id
Either the hash or the filename under [URL]/refs/ to pull.
-a, -c, -t
These options are ignored for historical reasons.
-v
Report what is downloaded.
-w <filename>
Writes the commit-id into the specified filename under
$GIT_DIR/refs/<filename> on the local end after the transfer is
complete.
--stdin
Instead of a commit id on the command line (which is not expected in
this case), git http-fetch expects lines on stdin in the format
<commit-id>['\t'<filename-as-in--w>]
--packfile=<hash>
For internal use only. Instead of a commit id on the command line
(which is not expected in this case), git http-fetch fetches the
packfile directly at the given URL and uses index-pack to generate
corresponding .idx and .keep files. The hash is used to determine the
name of the temporary file. It need not be the pack hash, but it must
uniquely identify the pack contents for resumption. The output of
index-pack is printed to stdout. Requires one or more
--index-pack-arg options.
--index-pack-arg=<arg>
For internal use only. The first instance specifies the command run
on the contents of the downloaded pack. Subsequent instances specify
its arguments.
--recover
Verify that everything reachable from target is fetched. Used after
an earlier fetch is interrupted.
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 2.56.0 2026-09-27 git-http-fetch(1)
git 2.56.0 - Generated Thu Oct 1 16:05:48 CDT 2026