Importing an external Git repository using the command line

Before you start, make sure you know:

Your GitHub Enterprise Server 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)

Note

For purposes of demonstration, we'll use:

An external account named extuser
An external Git host named https://external-host.com
A GitHub Enterprise Server personal account named ghuser
A repository on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance named repo.git

Create a new repository on GitHub Enterprise Server. You'll import your external Git repository to this new repository.
On the command line, make a "bare" clone of the external 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
```
Push the locally cloned repository to GitHub Enterprise Server 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://HOSTNAME/USER/REPO.git
# Pushes the mirror to the new repository on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance
```
Remove the temporary local repository.
```
cd ..
rm -rf REPO.git
```

If the repository you are importing contains large files, you may run into a warning or error. For more information on large files and how to manage them, see About large files on GitHub.