Much smaller `git clone`

[Rudxain]

jesseduffield/lazygit#4907

TLDR: this page should recommend --sparse (checkout) in addition to --filter (partial) and --depth (shallow), and offer some extra tips about them

I understand that --sparse (on its own) will prevent builds, but sometimes a build isn't necessary, such as when inspecting the code, reading docs/comments, making a minor change, etc...

[delan]

this is a drive-by comment, but beware of the performance tradeoffs when using shallow clones:

Depending on how others are contributing to your remote repository, a git fetch operation in a shallow clone might end up downloading an almost-full commit history!

https://github.blog/open-source/git/get-up-to-speed-with-partial-clone-and-shallow-clone/

[Rudxain]

That's where --filter comes to the rescue! If I'm not mistaken, Git won't download any blobs (or trees, depending on config) unless they're necessary to construct a checkout of HEAD. If the clone is shallow, sparse, and partial, then it's guaranteed that blobs outside of the cone will never be downloaded during fetch (unless git pull --stat is run)