Advanced Git settings#

Joining a Git repository#

Settings, that are applied on cloning a Git repository.

Initialize submodules#

Some Git repositories contain submodules (which are essentially linked Git repositories). You can tell Anchorpoint to clone these submodules if they are part of the repository. Anchorpoint will also update the submodule on every pull to the main repository.

If you need more granular control on each submodule, you have to disable this option and use the command line for controlling submodule behavior manually.

git submodule update --init --recursive SUBMODULENAME

This will only update the manual initialized submodules on Pull.

Limit Number of Commits#

This is using Git shallow clone. If you want to clone a repository that has a deep commit history, this process can take a long time. You can speed up the clone process by downloading only a set of recent commits. Sometimes this can also help to overcome server problems, since a shallow clone request requires fewer server resources.

If you want to make a Git repository “unshallow” and download the whole history later, you can use this Git command:

git fetch --unshallow

Reconcile existing files#

If you already have your files on your computer and want to join a Git repository, you don’t have to download them again. Anchorpoint will check all the files in the folder you provide and reconcile them to match the correct version in the repository by checking the SHA of each file.

Connecting via SSH#

SSH (Secure Shell) is a protocol used to securely connect to remote systems over a network. In the context of Git, SSH allows you to authenticate and push/pull code without entering your username and password every time.

The main benefits of using SSH are:

  • Security: SSH uses public-private key encryption, which is more secure than passwords.

  • Convenience: Once set up, authentication happens automatically without prompting for credentials.

  • Compatibility: SSH works reliably across most Git providers and is especially useful for working with private or self-hosted servers.

Anchorpoint supports SSH as an alternative authentication method to HTTPS for connecting to Git hosting providers—except Azure DevOps. If a project was created using an HTTPS URL, you can authenticate using either HTTPS or SSH. However, if the project was set up with an SSH URL (especially for self-hosted Git servers), then every team member must also authenticate via SSH. This ensures consistent access and avoids authentication issues.