How do I do copying in git?

Question

How do you copy a file or a directory with git, preserving revision history? I can't seem to find a way to do it.

What I'd like to do is to split a project into a library and GUI part (now they are mixed in the same project). So I'd like to copy a whole project, and then remove GUI parts from library project, and library parts from GUI project, but preserving the history of every file. It seems trivial undertaking, but I can't find the copy command in git.

So, how do I copy in git?

possible duplicate of [Record file copy operation with Git](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1043388/record-file-copy-operation-with-git) — Flexo, Sep 14 '11 at 13:47

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 13 '11 at 18:05

2

There is a handy guide at GitHub which describes how to split a subpath into a new repository.

So, you could git mv the code that you want to split out into it's own directory, and use this method to create a new repository based on that folder, which will keep the history of the files intact.

answered Sep 13 '11 at 18:05

Abizern

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Thanks for reminding me that I should do split, move instead of copy, split, delete :-) – dijxtra Sep 13 '11 at 18:18
That link is now 404. – Volker Stolz Nov 14 '14 at 09:11

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 13 '11 at 18:02

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you can use the $git clone commands to copy things from one place to another. Is that what you mean?

answered Sep 13 '11 at 18:02

MZimmerman6

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 13 '11 at 19:28

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You can try git-subtree tool to help with splitting subdirectory into separate project.

Read git-subtree(1) manpage for details.

answered Sep 13 '11 at 19:28

Jakub Narębski

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How do I do copying in git?

3 Answers3