How to duplicate an application
To help you re-use work and speed up your workflow, Divio offers two options for application duplication - Fork and Mirror.
You might want to duplicate an application for a number of reasons, for example:
- to explore radical changes or development that you don't want to do on the original
- to prepare the launch of site-wide development or content changes, without disturbing the original
- to punch out a completely new application, based on an original
- to provide team members or clients with an exact copy of an application for training purposes
Select your duplication option
To duplicate an application, select Duplicate from the application's Settings view.
You need to give the duplicate a name, and decide whether to duplicate the application to the same organisation or a different organisation.
Select the appropriate duplication action: Fork or Mirror.
Duplication types
Fork
A fork is a form of duplication in which the new application will be an exact but independent copy of the original. A fork will include the original's code, database content, media, environment variables and all branches, and retains the Git history in its codebase.
A fork is therefore useful when you want to undertake substantial new development, as it allows you to merge back changes from the duplicate into the original using Git.
Mirror
A mirror, unlike a fork, is dependent on the original it is created from. A mirror shares its codebase with the original. Whatever changes made to the codebase of the original will also be applied to each mirror.
Mirrors are useful when you have a large number of franchise-type sites that share exactly the same functionality. Rather than needing to make, test and deploy the same changes hundreds of times, the mirror functionality allows you to do this just once, on the original, and then deploy the changes to all the mirrors.
Select subscription options
After creating the duplicate, you will need to select a suitable subscription.