GitHub / Aquamacs24 -- cloning -- separating branch from master

Question

I am having trouble separating the Aquamacs24 nightly build branch from the master on my computer using the GitHub application and also with the terminal.

The master (1.58 GB) is located here:

$ git clone git://github.com/davidswelt/aquamacs-emacs.git

The Aquamacs24 branch (182.5 MB) is located here:

https://github.com/davidswelt/aquamacs-emacs/tree/aquamacs24

I've tried several variations in the terminal, but I'm not getting the same files as just clicking on the ZIP option in the link mentioned above, and checkout is not working:

$ git clone --depth 3 git://github.com/davidswelt/aquamacs-emacs.git
$ cd aquamacs-emacs
$ git checkout aquamacs24

Is there a way to separate the branch from the master once the entire 1.58 GB master is downloaded to the computer? Alternatively, what is the exact terminal command that will download the same thing as clicking on the ZIP icon on the github webpage cited above?

Answer 1

I'd mark this a duplicate, except (a) I'm not 100% sure I understand what you mean by "separating", and (b) what "the same thing as clicking on the ZIP icon" is will very much depend on whether that button performs a dynamic git archive on demand, or whether the archives are pre-generated (in which case they might not match the current HEAD).

(I would imagine that they are dynamic, however; or at least that github invalidates any cached copy if it is no longer current).

What does "checkout is not working" mean?

Anyhow, if you wish to clone a specific branch without downloading the other branches, that's been asked and answered: https://stackoverflow.com/a/7349740/324105

or if you're using git 1.7.10 or later: https://stackoverflow.com/a/14930421/324105