Clone Git repo so I can keep it updated with original, but keep my changes separate

Question

My apologies in advance for any misuse of git terminology...

I have an existing phpbb site. I would like to clone their repo, apply my changes, and create my own repo, in a way that way I can apply updates from the original phpbb master branch as they make them, and so I can maintain my own customizations. I'm just not entirely sure the order in which I should go about doing this. I'm not even sure if what I want to do is a fork?

What I want:

• To be able to update my site from the phpbb master branch at my discretion.
• To have my repo private (using bitbucket).

I know the files in their master branch that I'll need to change to make the site my own. So here's how I think it should work, though it probably won't because I never get this stuff right without asking for help first:

• Clone phpbb to my local machine
• Apply my current changes
• Make a new repo on BitBucket
• And here's where I'm confused - I know I need to do something with the remote/origin repos, but most guide available should you how to do a standard fork/pull or a clone - though I want my code to be possibly updated by the origin, but I never want to update their original code.

I have a dev, several test, and a prod machine, so I'd like an easier way to keep all this code up to date.

Keyway

Possible duplicate of How to update a GitHub forked repository? – Timbered

Answer 1

The usual thing to do is to keep two remotes: origin (your private fork) and upstream (the real one).

1. Create your private fork and clone it (it will be empty)
2. Add the "real one": git remote add upstream <url-of-the-real-one>
3. Download upstream commits: git fetch upstream
4. Force-apply upstream commits: git reset --hard upstream/master
5. Now your local repository is no longer empty. Push the commits to origin: git push
6. Apply your local edits, git commit them, and git push them

Now, if the upstream/master branch changes, you need to:

1. Download again the updated commits: git fetch upstream
2. Merge the upstream/master branch onto your local master branch: git merge upstream/master
3. If step 2 generates conflicts you should resolve them
4. Update your private fork: git push

Timbered