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I have an account of a Gitlab installation where I created the repository "ffki-startseite"

Now I want to clone the repository git://freifunk.in-kiel.de/ffki-startseite.git into that repository with all commits and branches, so I can start working on it in my own scope.

How can I import it?

I was able to fully export my project along with all commits, branches and tags to gitlab via following commands run locally on my computer:

To illustrate my example, I will be using https://github.com/raveren/kint as the source repository that I want to import into gitlab. I created an empty project named Kint (under namespace raveren ) in gitlab beforehand and it told me the http git url of the newly created project there is http://gitlab.example.com/raveren/kint.git

The commands are OS agnostic.

In a new directory:

git clone --mirror https://github.com/raveren/kint
cd kint.git
git remote add gitlab http://gitlab.example.com/raveren/kint.git
git push gitlab --mirror
Now if you have a locally cloned repository that you want to keep using with the new remote, just run the following commands* there:
git remote remove origin
git remote add origin http://gitlab.example.com/raveren/kint.git
git fetch --all
*This assumes that you did not rename your remote master from origin, otherwise, change the first two lines to reflect it.
                It gives me the error: remote: GitLab: You are not allowed to force push code to a protected branch on this project. To 10.0.100.89:8496/project/james-project.git  ! [remote rejected] master -> master (pre-receive hook declined)
– James Hirschorn
                Jun 3, 2019 at 16:01
Add the new gitlab remote to your existing repository and push:
git remote add gitlab url-to-gitlab-repo
git push gitlab master
                I had to push it with force, cause I fiddled around in gitLab already: git push gitlab master -f. Now I have the whole repo with all commits in my new GitLab ;) thanks
– rubo77
                Dec 3, 2013 at 19:46
                The Gitlab Project Import will load the remote repo from a URL when you create the project. Includes instructions for importing svn repos.
– rickfoosusa
                Jul 28, 2015 at 15:48
cd existing_repo
git remote rename origin previous-hosts
git remote add gitlab git@git.hutber.com:hutber/kindred.com.git
git push -u gitlab --all
git push -u gitlab --tags
This is a basic move one repo to new location. I use this sequence all te time. With --bare  no source files will be seen.
Open Git Bash.

Create a bare clone of the repository.
git clone --bare https://github.com/exampleuser/old-repository.git
Mirror-push to the new repository.
cd old-repository.git
git push --mirror https://gitlab.com/exampleuser/new-repository.git
Remove the temporary local repository you created in step 1.
cd ../
rm -rf old-repository.git
Why mirror?
See documentation of git: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-push
--all Push all branches (i.e. refs under refs/heads/); cannot be used with other .
--mirror Instead of naming each ref to push, specifies that all refs under refs/ (which includes but is not limited to refs/heads/,
refs/remotes/, and refs/tags/) be mirrored to the remote repository.
Newly created local refs will be pushed to the remote end, locally
updated refs will be force updated on the remote end, and deleted refs
will be removed from the remote end. This is the default if the
configuration option remote..mirror is set.
cd existing_repo
git remote rename origin old-origin
git remote add origin https://gitlab.example.com/rmishra/demoapp.git
git push -u origin --all
git push -u origin --tags
copy the bare repository under repos_path (/home/git/repositories/group/repo.git). Directory name must end in .git and be under a group or user namespace.
run bundle exec rake gitlab:import:repos
The owner will the first admin, and a group will get created if not already existent.
See also: How to import an existing bare git repository into Gitlab?
                For those who may be confused, the bare repository is the repository usually in place in the centralized location (e.g. github) that does NOT contain the .git folder at the root of the repository.  This is only a convenient option if you have access to the server where the bare repository is stored. Otherwise the answer by @Raveren is the best option.
– TinkerTenorSoftwareGuy
                Nov 29, 2016 at 19:27
You create an empty project in gitlab then on your local terminal follow one of these:
Push an existing folder
cd existing_folder
git init
git remote add origin git@gitlab.com:GITLABUSERNAME/YOURGITPROJECTNAME.git
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git push -u origin master
Push an existing Git repository
cd existing_repo
git remote rename origin old-origin
git remote add origin git@gitlab.com:GITLABUSERNAME/YOURGITPROJECTNAME.git
git push -u origin --all
git push -u origin --tags
git clone --mirror git@github.com:username/repo-name.git
git remote add gitlab ssh://git@servername.com/username/repo.git
git push -f --tags gitlab refs/heads/*:refs/heads/*
It is better to do it over ssh, the https might won't work
Gitlab is a little bit bugged on this feature.
You can lose a lot of time doing troubleshooting specially if your project is any big.
The best solution would be using the create/import tool, do not forget put your user name and password, otherwise it won't import anything at all.
Follow my screenshots
Moving a project from GitHub to GitLab including issues, pull requests Wiki, Milestones, Labels, Release notes and comments
There is a thorough instruction on GitLab Docs:
https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/import/github.html
tl;dr
Ensure that any GitHub users who you want to map to GitLab users have either:
A GitLab account that has logged in using the GitHub icon - or -
A GitLab account with an email address that matches the public email address of the GitHub user
From the top navigation bar, click + and select New project.
Select the Import project tab and then select GitHub.
Select the first button to List your GitHub repositories. You are redirected to a page on github.com to authorize the GitLab application.
Click Authorize gitlabhq. You are redirected back to GitLab's Import page and all of your GitHub repositories are listed.
Continue on to selecting which repositories to import.
But Please read the GitLab Docs page for details and hooks!
(it's not much)
I found the best and simplest method here, works like a charm for me, it will push all the tags and branches from origin to the new remote:
git remote add newremote git@git-cloud.z.com:test/kubespray.git
git push newremote --tags refs/remotes/origin/*:refs/heads/*
I used 'git push --all -u newremote', but it only push the checkouted branches to the newremote.
Git: Push All Branches to a New Remote
by Keith Dechant , Software Architect
Here's a scenario some of you might have encountered with your Git
repositories. You have a working copy of a Git repo, say from an old
server. But you only have the working copy, and the origin is not
accessible. So you can't just fork it. But you want to push the whole
repo and all the branch history to your new remote.
This is possible if your working copy contains the tracking branches
from the old remote (origin/branch1, origin/branch1, etc.). If you do,
you have the entire repo and history.
However, in my case there were dozens of branches, and some or all of
them I had never checked out locally. Pushing them all seemed like a
heavy lift. So, how to proceed?
I identified two options:
Option 1: Checkout every branch and push I could do this, and I could
even write a Bash script to help. However, doing this would change my
working files with each checkout, and would create a local branch for
each of the remote tracking branches. This would be slow with a large
repo.
Option 2: Push without changing your working copy There is a second
alternative, which doesn't require a checkout of each branch, doesn't
create extraneous branches in the working copy, and doesn't even
modify the files in the working copy.
If your old, no-longer-active remote is called "oldremote" and your
new remote is called "newremote", you can push just the remote
tracking branches with this command:
git push newremote refs/remotes/oldremote/*:refs/heads/*
In some
cases, it's also possible to push just a subset of the branches. If
the branch names are namespaced with a slash (e.g.,
oldremote/features/branch3, oldremote/features/branch4, etc.), you can
push only the remote tracking branches with names beginning with
"oldremote/features":
git push newremote refs/remotes/oldremote/features/*:refs/heads/features/* 
Whether you
push all the branches or just some of them, Git will perform the
entire operation without creating any new local branches, and without
making changes to your working files. Every tracking branch that
matches your pattern will be pushed to the new remote.
For more information on the topic, check out this thread on Stack
Overflow.
Date posted: October 9, 2017
                In your answer you indicate your method incompletely pushed to the new repo.  It also requires more work to accomplish and tedium.  For repos with numerous branches, this could take a very long time.  This is a good answer for users to know what not to do!  You could update it with "warning" markings.
– dan
                Apr 27, 2022 at 13:24
        
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