When I import a Git repo into Azure Devops, does it create a new repo?

Question

I've been reading the docs (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/repos/git/import-git-repository?view=azure-devops)

But I'm not clear what importing actually does. Does it clone or fork the original repo - if so what is the relationship between the original and the imported repo? Or does it somehow act as a proxy so any changes made to DevOps will actually be made to the original?

More detail: My use-case is I want to have a custom version of a GitHub repo for our company to modify but I don't want to have it rely on my personal Github account. We don't necessarily want/need to contribute changes back though it's nice to have the option.

Answer 1

Basically it's just a clone. There is no relationship to the original repo.

You can see this by reading further down on that docs page, which tells you how you would do this manually.

Answer 2

Normally, the imported repository is just a copy of the original with all the history.

You can create a Pull Request to directly merge new changes from the forked repository to the original (upstream), but you can't create a Pull Request to directly merge new changes from the imported repository to the original.

There is not the upstream-fork relationship between the imported repository and the original. They are relatively independent.

So, basically any changes you make in the imported repository will not affect the original.

[UPDATE]

GitHub also supports the import repository feature. On GitHub, you can import an existing repository from an organization account (or personal user account) to an empty repository on another organization account (or personal user account). The import repository feature on GitHub is quite similar to that on Azure DevOps.

For your case, you can create an empty repository on your company's organization account on GitHub, and import the original repository from your personal user account to this empty repository.

Of course, you also can create an empty repository on your company's organization on Azure DevOps, and import the original repository from your personal user account on GitHub to this empty repository on Azure DevOps.