Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <redacted>
---
 Documentation/git-clone.txt        |  8 +++++++-
 builtin/clone.c                    | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh | 13 +++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 47 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/git-clone.txt b/Documentation/git-clone.txt
index 34011c2940..0fe91d2f04 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-clone.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-clone.txt

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ SYNOPSIS
          [--dissociate] [--separate-git-dir <git dir>]
          [--depth <depth>] [--[no-]single-branch] [--no-tags]
          [--recurse-submodules[=<pathspec>]] [--[no-]shallow-submodules]
-         [--[no-]remote-submodules] [--jobs <n>] [--] <repository>
+         [--[no-]remote-submodules] [--jobs <n>] [--sparse] [--] <repository>
          [<directory>]

 DESCRIPTION

@@ -156,6 +156,12 @@ objects from the source repository into a pack in the cloned repository.
        used, neither remote-tracking branches nor the related
        configuration variables are created.

+--sparse::
+       Initialize the sparse-checkout file so the working
+       directory starts with only the files in the root
+       of the repository. The sparse-checkout file can be
+       modified to grow the working directory as needed.
+
 --mirror::
        Set up a mirror of the source repository.  This implies `--bare`.
        Compared to `--bare`, `--mirror` not only maps local branches of the

diff --git a/builtin/clone.c b/builtin/clone.c
index f665b28ccc..d6d49a73ff 100644
--- a/builtin/clone.c
+++ b/builtin/clone.c

@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ static const char *real_git_dir;
 static char *option_upload_pack = "git-upload-pack";
 static int option_verbosity;
 static int option_progress = -1;
+static int option_sparse_checkout;
 static enum transport_family family;
 static struct string_list option_config = STRING_LIST_INIT_NODUP;
 static struct string_list option_required_reference = STRING_LIST_INIT_NODUP;

@@ -147,6 +148,8 @@ static struct option builtin_clone_options[] = {
        OPT_PARSE_LIST_OBJECTS_FILTER(&filter_options),
        OPT_BOOL(0, "remote-submodules", &option_remote_submodules,
                    N_("any cloned submodules will use their remote-tracking branch")),
+       OPT_BOOL(0, "sparse", &option_sparse_checkout,
+                   N_("initialize sparse-checkout file to include only files at root")),
        OPT_END()
 };

@@ -734,6 +737,27 @@ static void update_head(const struct ref *our, const struct ref *remote,
        }
 }

+static int git_sparse_checkout_init(const char *repo)
+{
+       struct argv_array argv = ARGV_ARRAY_INIT;
+       int result = 0;
+       argv_array_pushl(&argv, "-C", repo, "sparse-checkout", "init", NULL);
+
+       /*
+        * We must apply the setting in the current process
+        * for the later checkout to use the sparse-checkout file.
+        */
+       core_apply_sparse_checkout = 1;
+
+       if (run_command_v_opt(argv.argv, RUN_GIT_CMD)) {
+               error(_("failed to initialize sparse-checkout"));
+               result = 1;
+       }

+
+       argv_array_clear(&argv);
+       return result;
+}
+
 static int checkout(int submodule_progress)
 {
        struct object_id oid;

@@ -1107,6 +1131,9 @@ int cmd_clone(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
        if (option_required_reference.nr || option_optional_reference.nr)
                setup_reference();

+       if (option_sparse_checkout && git_sparse_checkout_init(repo))
+               return 1;
+
        remote = remote_get(option_origin);

        strbuf_addf(&default_refspec, "+%s*:%s*", src_ref_prefix,

diff --git a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
index 35ab84aabd..b7d5f15830 100755
--- a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
+++ b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh

@@ -87,4 +87,17 @@ test_expect_success 'init with existing sparse-checkout' '
        test_cmp expect dir
 '

+test_expect_success 'clone --sparse' '
+       git clone --sparse repo clone &&
+       git -C clone sparse-checkout list >actual &&
+       cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+               /*
+               !/*/*
+       EOF
+       test_cmp expect actual &&
+       ls clone >dir &&
+       echo a >expect &&
+       test_cmp expect dir