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Asked: 2026-05-20T13:09:45+00:00

Say I need to create x repositories that can push and pull from a

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Say I need to create x repositories that can push and pull from a central repository. Is there a practical difference between cloning all those repositories compared to copying the .hg folder x times from the central repository to empty folders?

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  1. Editorial Team

    One difference I can think of is that a copy isn’t an atomic operation:
    you can’t be certain the repo you are copying isn’t being modified.

    Edit: the hg clone man page actually mentions:

    In some cases, you can clone repositories and the working directory using full hardlinks with

    $ cp -al REPO REPOCLONE

    This is the fastest way to clone, but it is not always safe.

    • The operation is not atomic (making sure REPO is not modified during the operation is up to you)
    • and you have to make sure your editor breaks hardlinks (Emacs and most Linux Kernel tools do so).
    • Also, this is not compatible with certain extensions that place their metadata under the .hg directory, such as mq.
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