Fork from a branch in 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

Answer 1

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 2

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 3

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.

Answer 4

I don’t know a native way yet, but you can do it following this recipe:

1. Fork the repository in question (called ‘upstream’) on the GitHub website to your workspace there.
2. Run the GitHub desktop application and clone the repository onto your PC.
3. 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.)

4. Set the source repository as upstream:

   git remote add upstream https://github.com/{user}/{source-repo}.git
   

5. Fetch the full upstream repository. (Right now, you only have a copy of its master branch.)

   git fetch upstream
   

6. Make your file system copy the branch you want and give it any name:

   git checkout upstream/{branch-in-question}
   git checkout -b temporary
   

7. Publish your repo using the GitHub desktop application.

8. On the GitHub website, open your repository and click ‘settings’.
9. Change the “Default branch” to ‘temporary’. (Just change the drop-down menu, you don’t need to click the “Rename” button.)
10. Go back to your repository, go to the ‘branches’ tab, now you can delete the “master” branch.

11. 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
    

12. Once more, publish your repo using the GitHub desktop application.

13. On the GitHub website, open your repository and click ‘settings’.
14. Change the “Default branch” back to the (new) ‘master’ branch.
15. 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 5

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 6

I'm using bitbucket but I'm sure this would work for GitHub as well.

1. Create a new repository
2. Checkout the branch using GitExtensions
3. Click Push to open the Push dialog
4. Set the destination URL to the new repository
5. Set the destination branch to "master"
6. Push

Your new repository will have the full history of the one branch only (not all branches like forking will have).