Importing a Git repository using the command line

Before you start, make sure you know:

• Your GitHub username
• The clone URL for the external repository, such as https://external-host.com/user/repo.git or git://external-host.com/user/repo.git (perhaps with a user@ in front of the external-host.com domain name)

1. Create a new repository on GitHub. You'll import your external Git repository to this new repository.
2. On the command line, make a "bare" clone of the repository using the external clone URL. This creates a full copy of the data, but without a working directory for editing files, and ensures a clean, fresh export of all the old data.

   $ git clone --bare https://external-host.com/extuser/repo.git
   # Makes a bare clone of the external repository in a local directory

3. Push the locally cloned repository to GitHub using the "mirror" option, which ensures that all references, such as branches and tags, are copied to the imported repository.

   $ cd repo.git
   $ git push --mirror https://github.com/ghuser/repo.git
   # Pushes the mirror to the new GitHub repository

4. Remove the temporary local repository.

   $ cd ..
   $ rm -rf repo.git