Create private branch of a public repository

create-private-branch-of-a-public-repository.md

Create private branch of a public repository

This gist describes how to create private branch (downstream) of a public repository (upstream).

Initialize repository

$ git init private-repo
$ cd private-repo

Add remotes

$ git remote add upstream [email protected]:<username>/public-repo.git
$ git remote add origin [email protected]:<username>/private-repo.git
$ git remote --verbose

Initial commit

$ git commit --allow-empty --message "Initial commit"
$ git push --set-upstream origin main

Create development branch

$ git checkout -b develop
$ git push --set-upstream origin develop
$ git branch --all

Merge upstream into development branch

$ git fetch upstream main
$ git merge --allow-unrelated-histories upstream/main
$ git push

Some changes on repository...

# Do some changes...
$ git add .
$ git commit -m "Some changes"
$ git push

Apply upstream changes...

$ git fetch upstream main
$ git log --all --graph --oneline
$ git merge upstream/main
$ git push

Merge development branch to main

$ git switch main
$ git merge develop
$ git push
$ git log --all --graph --oneline

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For next clones:

Clone repository

$ git clone [email protected]:<username>/private-repo.git
$ cd private-repo

Add upstream remote

$ git remote add upstream [email protected]:<username>/public-repo.git
$ git remote --verbose

Switch to development branch and get upstream changes

$ git switch develop
$ git fetch upstream main
$ git log --all --graph --oneline
$ git merge upstream/main