Subject: Re: Allow git remote add but not git clone ( was Re: [PATCH/RFC] Documentation/git-gc.txt: add reference to githooks)

From: Chris Packham <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:52:57 -0700

On 21/09/10 11:14, David Brown wrote:
> Subject: Re: [PATCH/RFC] Documentation/git-gc.txt: add reference to githooks

Wow odd thread to pickup. Hopefully someone that knows more than me will
notice the change of subject an provide a better answer.

> Suppose I want to publish some changes to a tree.  I have a server
> available where I can run a git daemon, but for one reason or another
> I want to force people to use the another git repo as a reference.
> The reason could be one of bandwidth, or someone who isn't comfortable
> making all of the other source available.  Ideally, someone who
> already has the other git repo cloned, and just adds mine as a remote
> wouldn't notice the difference.

Sounds like a reasonable motivation.

> Is there a way to do this?

As far as I know no. The mechanisms that git clone and git remote
add/git fetch are fairly generic so I doubt there is a way for the git
daemon to know which was run by the user at the other end. Maybe there
are other possible solutions outside of git to but a cap the amount of
data sent. Doesn't look like there are any hooks on the upload-pack side
of git daemon.

> If there isn't a way of doing this currently, is this something that
> others would find useful?

I personally wouldn't but I can see why some people might want this.