forks

In June 2022 we updated fork capabilities to include forking a repository into the same organization as its upstream repository, forking internal repositories to enterprise organizations, and for enterprise owners to limit where forks can be created. This opened up a lot of new possibilities for collaboration!

We recently updated fork capabilities again to unblock an additional workflow: fork repositories into another organization more than once. Before, when you tried to fork a repository into another organization that already had a fork of that repository, your option to finish forking into that organization was grayed out and GitHub let you know that a fork already exists in the target organization. With this update, you will have the option to continue forking it using a unique name.

We welcome your feedback on this in GitHub’s public feedback discussions.

Previously, we announced the ability for enterprise owners to limit where private and internal repository forks can be created. We heard from some customers that they need a more granular control over fork permissions for each organization within the enterprise.

Now, we've added the ability for enterprise organization admins to set fork policy at the organization level, further restricting enterprise policy. Forking can be limited to organizations within the enterprise, within the same organization, user accounts and organization within the enterprise, user accounts, or everywhere. Fork policies cascade from the enterprise policy to organization policy to repository policy. Enterprise policies dictate the policy options available for organizations, i.e. an organization admin can only set a more restrictive forking policy than the enterprise allows.

Previously, three aspects of repository forks caused friction to innersource collaboration and administration:

1. Repositories could not be forked within a single organization.
2. Repositories with internal visibility could not be forked to an organization.
3. Enterprise owners lacked control over where repositories could be forked.

These obstacles have been addressed with the following new features. We’re always looking for new ways to improve repository collaboration and we welcome your ideas.

Fork a repository to the same organization as its parent

Previously, a repository could be forked only to a different organization or user account.

Now, a repository can be forked to the same organization as its parent repository, addressing situations where people are working in one organization and don’t want to fork a repository to a different organization or user account.

Fork internal repositories to enterprise organizations

Previously, when a repository with internal visibility was forked, the fork was automatically created in the person’s personal account space and its visibility was changed to private.

Now, people can fork an internal repository to an organization in the same enterprise, and the fork will retain its internal visibility. When forking an internal repository, you can choose which of the enterprise’s organizations should receive the fork – similar to forking a public repository, except that:

1. The destination organizations will be limited to those within the enterprise of the parent repository.
2. You will not be permitted to change the internal visibility of the fork while forking it.

Enterprise owners can limit where forks can be created

Previously, enterprise owners couldn’t restrict where repositories in the enterprise could be forked. This was important for them to keep confidential repositories from accidentally being forked to an exposed location.

Now, enterprise owners can control where enterprise members can fork repositories. Forking can be limited to preset combinations of enterprise organizations, the same organization as the parent repository, user accounts, and everywhere.

More information

Learn more about working with forks, or enforcing a policy for forking repositories, in the GitHub documentation.

We appreciate feedback on this and other topics in GitHub’s public feedback discussions.