How to bundle a repository in Git

# Bundle entire repository with all branches and tags
git bundle create repo.bundle --all

# Verify bundle
git bundle verify repo.bundle

# Clone from bundle
git clone repo.bundle my-repo
cd my-repo

# Check all branches
git branch -a

# Repository is fully functional with complete history

# Bundle only main branch
git bundle create main.bundle main

# Bundle with commit history
git bundle create feature.bundle feature-branch

# Clone from branch bundle
git clone feature.bundle feature-repo

# Verify it's a complete working repository
cd feature-repo
git log --oneline

# Bundle commits from tag to HEAD
git bundle create recent.bundle v1.0.0..HEAD

# Bundle last 10 commits
git bundle create last10.bundle HEAD~10..HEAD

# Bundle specific commit range
git bundle create range.bundle abc123..def456

# To use range bundle, need base commits in target repo
git pull range.bundle

# Bundle specific branches
git bundle create branches.bundle main develop feature-x

# Bundle all local branches
git bundle create local.bundle --branches

# Bundle all remote branches
git bundle create remote.bundle --remotes

# Clone and check branches
git clone branches.bundle multi-branch
cd multi-branch
git branch -a

# Bundle all tags
git bundle create with-tags.bundle --tags

# Bundle specific tags
git bundle create releases.bundle v1.0.0 v2.0.0 v3.0.0

# Bundle branches and tags
git bundle create complete.bundle --all --tags

# Verify tags after cloning
git clone complete.bundle tagged-repo
cd tagged-repo
git tag

# Create initial bundle
git bundle create initial.bundle --all

# Later, create incremental bundle with new commits
git bundle create update.bundle ^initial.bundle --all

# On receiving end:
# 1. Clone from initial bundle
git clone initial.bundle my-repo

# 2. Apply incremental bundle
cd my-repo
git pull ../update.bundle

# All new commits now available

# Verify bundle is valid
git bundle verify repo.bundle

# Output:
# repo.bundle is okay

# List references in bundle
git bundle list-heads repo.bundle

# Output shows all branches and tags:
# abc123 refs/heads/main
# def456 refs/heads/develop

# Verify specific branch exists
git bundle list-heads repo.bundle | grep main

# Fetch from bundle into existing repo
cd existing-repo
git fetch /path/to/repo.bundle refs/heads/main:refs/heads/imported-main

# Now have imported-main branch
git branch

# Pull specific branch
git pull /path/to/repo.bundle main

# Add bundle as remote
git remote add bundle-origin /path/to/repo.bundle
git fetch bundle-origin

# Create timestamped backup
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d)
git bundle create backup-$DATE.bundle --all

# Verify backup
git bundle verify backup-$DATE.bundle

# Store offsite or on external drive
cp backup-$DATE.bundle /mnt/backup/

# Restore from backup
git clone backup-$DATE.bundle restored-repo

# All history, branches, and tags preserved

# On source machine with network
cd my-project
git bundle create my-project.bundle --all

# Copy my-project.bundle to USB drive

# On target air-gapped machine
cd /path/to/usb
git clone my-project.bundle my-project

# Full repository now available offline
cd my-project
git log
git branch -a

# Create bundle
git bundle create feature.bundle feature-branch

# Check size
ls -lh feature.bundle

# If too large, split bundle
split -b 10M feature.bundle feature.bundle.part

# Attach parts to email
# feature.bundle.partaa
# feature.bundle.partab
# feature.bundle.partac

# On receiving end, reassemble
cat feature.bundle.part* > feature.bundle

# Verify and clone
git bundle verify feature.bundle
git clone feature.bundle feature

# Create bundle with maximum compression
git bundle create repo.bundle --all

# Bundle is already compressed internally
# For additional compression
gzip repo.bundle
# Creates repo.bundle.gz

# To use compressed bundle
gunzip repo.bundle.gz
git bundle verify repo.bundle
git clone repo.bundle my-repo

# Alternatively, pipe directly
git bundle create - --all | gzip > repo.bundle.gz
gunzip -c repo.bundle.gz | git clone - my-repo

#!/bin/bash
# backup-repo.sh

REPO_PATH="/path/to/repo"
BACKUP_DIR="/path/to/backups"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)
BUNDLE_NAME="backup-$DATE.bundle"

cd "$REPO_PATH"

# Create bundle
git bundle create "$BACKUP_DIR/$BUNDLE_NAME" --all

# Verify bundle
if git bundle verify "$BACKUP_DIR/$BUNDLE_NAME"; then
  echo "✓ Backup created: $BUNDLE_NAME"

  # Delete backups older than 30 days
  find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "backup-*.bundle" -mtime +30 -delete

  echo "✓ Old backups cleaned"
else
  echo "✗ Bundle verification failed"
  exit 1
fi

# Make executable
chmod +x backup-repo.sh

# Add to cron for daily backups
crontab -e
# 0 2 * * * /path/to/backup-repo.sh

# git archive creates snapshot (no history)
git archive --format=zip --output=snapshot.zip HEAD

# git bundle includes full history
git bundle create repo.bundle --all

# Archive is smaller but loses history
ls -lh snapshot.zip repo.bundle

# Bundle preserves all commits
git clone repo.bundle restored
cd restored
git log --oneline  # Full history available