Fork from a branch in github - github

Question

Is there a way to fork from a specific branch on GitHub? … For example, moodle has many branches (1.9, 2.0 … and so on). Can a clone be performed of just branch 1.9 and not the master branch always? Is it possible to clone a specific branch onto my PC?

Answer 1

I don’t know a native way yet, but you can do it following this recipe:
Fork the repository in question (called ‘upstream’) on the GitHub website to your workspace there.
Run the GitHub desktop application and clone the repository onto your PC.
Use the GitHub desktop application to open a shell in the repository. (The git commands are not available from the default PowerShell unless you configure that manually.)
Set the source repository as upstream:
git remote add upstream https://github.com/{user}/{source-repo}.git
Fetch the full upstream repository. (Right now, you only have a copy of its master branch.)
git fetch upstream
Make your file system copy the branch you want and give it any name:
git checkout upstream/{branch-in-question}
git checkout -b temporary
Publish your repo using the GitHub desktop application.
On the GitHub website, open your repository and click ‘settings’.
Change the “Default branch” to ‘temporary’. (Just change the drop-down menu, you don’t need to click the “Rename” button.)
Go back to your repository, go to the ‘branches’ tab, now you can delete the “master” branch.
Delete the master branch on your shell and make a new master branch:
git branch -d master
git branch master
git checkout master
git -d temporary
Once more, publish your repo using the GitHub desktop application.
On the GitHub website, open your repository and click ‘settings’.
Change the “Default branch” back to the (new) ‘master’ branch.
Go back to your repository, go to the ‘branches’ tab, now you can delete the “temporary” branch.
This should be what you were looking for. Perhaps GitHub will provide a more convenient way to do this in future (e.g., clicking “Fork” from a project’s branch results in exactly this behaviour).

Answer 2

Cloning means that you create a copy of the whole repository in your account including all branches and tags. However you are free to switch and track branches however you like.

Answer 3

No command line needed. Just create a new branch in your forked repository in GitHub. GitHub will ask you if you want to clone/mirror this new branch from the upstream repository. You can give any name to the new branch.

Answer 4

Yes, you can clone the single branch. For example, you have a branch named release1.0. If you would like to clone this branch into your pc then use the following line of code:
$ git clone git#bitbucket.org:git_username/git_repository_example -b release1.0 --single-branch

Answer 5

For those who don't like working with command-line. Here is a simple guide using the desktop client for GitHub:
Click the fork button of the repo on GitHub.com:
Make sure you have the desktop client installed
Click this button:
Clone the repo
In the desktop client, select the desired branch
Select the branch you'd like to work on and you're done

Answer 6

I'm posting here the method I've used.
Like the OP I wanted to only copy/fork one branch. But couldn't find an easy way.
in your repo create a new branch. It doesn't need to have the same name as the branch you want to fork
once created, verify that it is the selected branch, and click "Compare"
reverse the order of comparison (I have a userscript for that, see my profile if it's something you want to test).
the "base" repository must be yours, with the branch you've created
the "head" repository is the original, and the branch is the branch you want to fork
hit "create pull request" and continue until the PR is applied
That's it. You have the branch forked.

Answer 7

I'm using bitbucket but I'm sure this would work for GitHub as well.
Create a new repository
Checkout the branch using GitExtensions
Click Push to open the Push dialog
Set the destination URL to the new repository
Set the destination branch to "master"
Push
Your new repository will have the full history of the one branch only (not all branches like forking will have).

Answer 8

A fast, alternative approach is to create your own new repo.
Go to https://github.com/new and make a new repo. Do not initialize with README.
Scroll down to get your git remote
Then:
git remote rm origin
git config master.remote origin
git config master.merge refs/heads/master
// Run code from above image
git push --set-upstream origin yourbranchname
You will have a new repo with the original repo's code and a branch that can be made into a pull request.

Answer 9

SOLUTION:
For remote repository on GitHub and local repository
After fork all branches to your GitHub repository, you can delete Redundant branches in your GitHub repository.
And then you can only clone the branches you need to local.
Step One
Step Two
Only For local repository
git clone -b <branch name> --single-branch <repository>
If you want to further save your disk space, you can clone remote repository without history:
git clone -b <branch name> --depth 1 <repository>
notice: --depth implies --single-branch unless --no-single-branch is given.
https://git-scm.com/docs/git-clone

Answer 10

Switch to the branch you need in source repo
Click "Fork". You'll get forked master and the branch you're in.
I don't know how it works with more branches, but for my needs worked pretty well.