How to do a Git Export like SVN Export?

In Git, there isn’t a built-in command equivalent to SVN’s export that directly exports a clean copy of the repository without any version control metadata. However, you can achieve a similar result using various Git commands combined with some additional steps. Below is a method to emulate the behavior of SVN’s export in Git:

The git archive command is the most direct way to export a repository or part of it without the .git directory.

Exporting the Entire Repository

git archive --format=tar --output=repo.tar HEAD

This creates a tarball (repo.tar) of the current HEAD.

Exporting a Specific Branch

git archive --format=tar --output=repo.tar branch-name

This creates a tarball of the specified branch.

Exporting to a Directory

You can combine git archive with tar to extract directly to a directory:

git archive HEAD | tar -x -C /path/to/destination

If you need to export the repository to a directory without the .git folder, you can clone the repository and then use rsync to copy the contents.

git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git /path/to/clone
rsync -av --progress /path/to/clone/ /path/to/export --exclude .git

This clones the repository and then uses rsync to copy everything except the .git directory to the export directory.

You can checkout the branch in a temporary directory and then move or copy the files:

git worktree add /path/to/temp-directory branch-name

This checks out the branch into a new working directory. You can then copy the files from the temporary directory to your desired location.

You can manually copy the files, excluding the .git directory, if you’re working in a shell environment:

cp -r /path/to/repo /path/to/export
rm -rf /path/to/export/.git

Clone the Repository

Start by cloning the Git repository to your local machine using the git clone command. This will create a full copy of the repository on your local system.

git clone <repository_url>

Checkout the Desired Commit or Branch

Navigate to the directory of the cloned repository and checkout the specific commit or branch that you want to export. This step is optional if you want to export the current state of the repository.

git checkout <commit_hash_or_branch_name>

Remove Git Directory

Once you have the repository at the desired state, remove the .git directory to remove all version control metadata and history.

rm -rf .git

Optional: Remove Unnecessary Files

If there are any files or directories you want to exclude from the export, you can manually delete them from the repository directory.

rm -rf <file_or_directory>

Package the Export

Finally, you can package the exported files into an archive format like ZIP or TAR for distribution or deployment.

For ZIP

zip -r export.zip .

For TAR:

tar -czf export.tar.gz .

Now, you have an exported copy of the Git repository without any version control metadata, similar to what SVN’s export command provides. This clean export can be shared or deployed without including Git-specific files and history. Remember to include necessary project files and ensure that you have permission to distribute or deploy the exported content.

• git archive: Best method to create a clean export without .git directory.
• rsync: Useful for excluding .git after cloning.
• git checkout in a temporary directory: Alternative to work in a separate directory.
• Manual copying: Simple but less efficient for large repositories.

Each method has its use case, and you can choose the one that best fits your workflow and requirements.