clone: document --filter options

derrickstolee · gitster · commit 4a465443a6ce · 2020-03-22T16:38:30.000-07:00
It turns out that the "--filter=&lt;filter-spec&gt;" option is not
documented anywhere in the "git clone" page, and instead is
detailed carefully in "git rev-list" where it serves a
different purpose.

Add a small bit about this option in the documentation. It
would be worth some time to create a subsection in the "git clone"
documentation about partial clone as a concept and how it can be
a surprising experience. For example, "git checkout" will likely
trigger a pack download.

Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee &lt;dstolee@microsoft.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano &lt;gitster@pobox.com&gt;
diff --git a/Documentation/git-clone.txt b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ SYNOPSIS
 	  [--dissociate] [--separate-git-dir <git dir>]
 	  [--depth <depth>] [--[no-]single-branch] [--no-tags]
 	  [--recurse-submodules[=<pathspec>]] [--[no-]shallow-submodules]
-	  [--[no-]remote-submodules] [--jobs <n>] [--sparse] [--] <repository>
+	  [--[no-]remote-submodules] [--jobs <n>] [--sparse]
+	  [--filter=<filter>] [--] <repository>
 	  [<directory>]
 
 DESCRIPTION
@@ -162,6 +163,16 @@ objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
 	of the repository. The sparse-checkout file can be
 	modified to grow the working directory as needed.
 
+--filter=<filter-spec>::
+	Use the partial clone feature and request that the server sends
+	a subset of reachable objects according to a given object filter.
+	When using `--filter`, the supplied `<filter-spec>` is used for
+	the partial clone filter. For example, `--filter=blob:none` will
+	filter out all blobs (file contents) until needed by Git. Also,
+	`--filter=blob:limit=<size>` will filter out all blobs of size
+	at least `<size>`. For more details on filter specifications, see
+	the `--filter` option in linkgit:git-rev-list[1].
+
 --mirror::
 	Set up a mirror of the source repository.  This implies `--bare`.
 	Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the
