What is the difference between git clone --mirror and pull

Question

There really is no difference between clone and pull is my understanding. Or in other words git clone -- bare and git pull does the same. But since git clone --mirror updates the local references would it be different from pull ?

---

EDIT: I mistakenly assumed git clone default is --bare. But --bare will be setup without working directory.

Answer 1

git clone creates a new repository. You had no repository before, and now you have one.

git pull does operations in an existing repository.

That seems like a really big difference!

Other than that, what git pull does is:

• run git fetch, then
• run a second Git command.

Since a --mirror clone is a --bare clone and therefore has no work-tree, the second command that git pull would run will fail, no matter whether you choose merge or rebase.

What git fetch does is documented. With a mirror clone, the default refspec is +refs/*:refs/*, so that all references are replaced with those obtained from the other Git.