git init | Atlassian Git Tutorial (2024)

The git init command creates a new Git repository. It can be used to convert an existing, unversioned project to a Git repository or initialize a new, empty repository. Most other Git commands are not available outside of an initialized repository, so this is usually the first command you'll run in a new project.

Executing git init creates a .git subdirectory in the current working directory, which contains all of the necessary Git metadata for the new repository. This metadata includes subdirectories for objects, refs, and template files. A HEAD file is also created which points to the currently checked out commit.

Aside from the .git directory, in the root directory of the project, an existing project remains unaltered (unlike SVN, Git doesn't require a .git subdirectory in every subdirectory).

By default, git init will initialize the Git configuration to the .git subdirectory path. The subdirectory path can be modified and customized if you would like it to live elsewhere. You can set the $GIT_DIR environment variable to a custom path and git init will initialize the Git configuration files there. Additionally you can pass the --separate-git-dir argument for the same result. A common use case for a separate .git subdirectory is to keep your system configuration "dotfiles" (.bashrc, .vimrc, etc.) in the home directory while keeping the .git folder elsewhere.

gitinit

gitinit<directory>

Create an empty Git repository in the specified directory. Running this command will create a new subdirectory called ＜directory＞ containing nothing but the .git subdirectory.

If you've already run git init on a project directory and it contains a .git subdirectory, you can safely run git init again on the same project directory. It will not override an existing .git configuration.

gitinit--bare<directory>

ssh<user>@<host>cdpath/above/repogitinit--baremy-project.git

gitinit<directory>--template=<template_directory>

Initializes a new Git repository and copies files from the ＜template_directory＞ into the repository.

Templates allow you to initialize a new repository with a predefined .git subdirectory. You can configure a template to have default directories and files that will get copied to a new repository's .git subdirectory. The default Git templates usually reside in a `/usr/share/git-core/templates` directory but may be a different path on your machine.

The default templates are a good reference and example of how to utilize template features. A powerful feature of templates that's exhibited in the default templates is Git Hook configuration. You can create a template with predefined Git hooks and initialize your new git repositories with common hooks ready to go. Learn more about Git Hooks at the Git Hook page.

gitinit<directory>--template=<template_directory>

All configurations of git init take a ＜directory＞ argument. If you provide the , the command is run inside it. If this directory does not exist, it will be created. In addition to the options and configuration already discussed, Git init has a few other command line options. A full list of them follows:

-Q

--QUIET

Only prints "critical level" messages, Errors, and Warnings. All other output is silenced.

--BARE

Creates a bare repository. (See the "Bare Repositories" section above.)

--TEMPLATE=

Specifies the directory from which templates will be used. (See the "Git Init Templates" section above.)

--SEPARATE-GIT-DIR=

Creates a text file containing the path to . This file acts as a link to the .git directory. This is useful if you would like to store your .git directory on a separate location or drive from your project's working files. Some common use cases for --separate-git-dir are:

• To keep your system configuration "dotfiles" (.bashrc, .vimrc, etc.) in the home directory while keeping the .git folder elsewhere
• Your Git history has grown very large in disk size and you need to move it elsewhere to a separate high-capacity drive
• You want to have a Git project in a publicly accessible directory like `www:root`
  

You can call git init --separate-git-dir on an existing repository and the .git dir will be moved to the specified path.

--SHARED[=(FALSE|TRUE|UMASK|GROUP|ALL|WORLD|EVERYBODY|0XXX)]

cd/path/to/code\
gitinit\
gitadd.\
gitcommit

gitinit--bare/path/to/repo.git

mkdir-p/path/to/template\
echo"HelloWorld">>/absolute/path/to/template/README\
gitinit/new/repo/path--template=/absolute/path/to/template\
cd/new/repo/path\
cat/new/repo/path/README