How can I link an existing Git to my current environment without downloading all the files?

Question

I would like to link my current git repo to an updated version of the repo on my computer that wasn't being tracked.

However, if I clone it... it will download the old repo on top of it.

Is there a way where I can clone without downloading the files, then scan for real differences between the folder and the repo, and push those changes?

https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=%5Bgit%5D+clone+into+non-empty+directory — phd, Apr 05 '20 at 20:22

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 05 '20 at 20:09

You can just add the old Github repo as an origin to your new repo with:

git remote add origin <repo-url>

Then you can do:

git fetch origin

And to compare your current changes (assuming they're in master branch) to the Github repo's files:

git diff master origin/master

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 05 '20 at 20:10

0

You can add a remote to a branch. It is described in detail here under "Adding Remote Repositories":

git remote add my_new_remote https://github.com/paulboone/ticgit

answered Apr 05 '20 at 20:10

Kaligule

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How can I link an existing Git to my current environment without downloading all the files?

2 Answers2