How to fetch all git history after I clone the repo with `--depth 1`?

Question

There is a big repo with thousands of commits. When I clone it, I just want to see the latest code, and don't wait for too long, so I run:

git clone git://..../... --depth 1

But later, I want to see all the history commits, but I don't know how to fetch all the histories.

I'm pretty sure there's no way to go from this repo to the full version - you will most likely need to clone the entire repo, including the latest revision, into a fresh copy in order to have the full history. I'm not 100% sure that this is the case, however, so I will leave it to somebody with more knowledge in this area to provide a more definitive answer for you. — JamesG, Mar 26 '15 at 02:33
possible duplicate of [Convert shallow clone to full clone](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6802145/convert-shallow-clone-to-full-clone) — Makoto, Mar 26 '15 at 02:34

score 143 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 26 '15 at 02:35

143

Use git pull --unshallow and it will download the entire commit history.

answered Mar 26 '15 at 02:35

Daniel Mann

6

or use 'git fetch --unshallow' – Bill Cong Apr 29 '22 at 15:48
2

I saw this when I attempted that command: $ git pull --unshallow fatal: --unshallow on a complete repository does not make sense – Rich von Lehe Nov 04 '22 at 14:55

score 19 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 17 '19 at 19:21

19

Alternatively, you can also run git fetch --depth=1000000.

answered Jun 17 '19 at 19:21

Won Jun Bae

12

In a few years, this won't work if pulling the Linux kernel. :) – Qix - MONICA WAS MISTREATED Jan 13 '20 at 01:30
3

Maybe. but if you, like me, have trouble pulling the entire source because you use an old laptop which runs out of memory, then this is a solution that would work. With patience. – Filkolev Sep 08 '20 at 17:13

2 Answers2