Forum Archive

Downloading files from GitHub

macfox2

What is the easiest way to download a file from GitHub? I entered the following in the command line in StaSh:

git clone https://github.com/username/username.github.io.git

and also

git clone https://github.com/username/username.git

but both times received the following error message:

stash: <type 'exceptions.OSError'>: [Errno 17] File exists: './.git'

What should I enter on the command line to make this work? Or is there a better way to accomplish this?

disorientedp

That means the folder you are in is already a git repository. Make sure you're in an empty directory (or type rm -rf .git).

JonB

Generally you would use

git clone https://github.com/username/username.git somelocalpath

otherwise it tries to clone to the local folder, which is usually not what you want

I need to update clone to not create .git when a clone fails...

Phuket2

@macfox2 , if you already have the iOS app workingcopy, have a look at this post, it's a long post. But the items of interest are the last 2 posts. They are both from @ccc
I use this method now. I have tested it going the other way also and it works. I am just not organised enough at the moment to use it 2 ways.
But I find this approach friendly and easy to remember, keeping in mind I am hopeless with GitHub
Just a thought

macfox2

@JonB once again, thank you very much!