title:Getting the latest version of MAR (code only)
title:Getting the latest version of MAR (code only)
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If you're already a MAR user, there's a good chance you already have set up a `~/MAR` folder somewhere on a cluster or laboratory machine (e.g., climato\.be for ULiège researchers), where you would find (some of) the content stored in a MAR repository such as [ESPECES/MAR/stable](https://gitlab.uliege.be/especes/mar/stable).
If you're already a MAR user, there's a good chance you already have set up a `~/MAR` folder somewhere on a cluster or laboratory machine (e.g., climato\.be for ULiège researchers), where you would find (some of) the content stored in a MAR repository such as [ESPECES/MAR/stable](https://gitlab.uliege.be/especes/mar/stable).
However, for various reasons, there's also a good chance you have already tuned some files present on this repository for your own needs, typically in `~/MAR/bin` and `~/MAR/usr`. Therefore, if you cloned or pulled the entire [ESPECES/MAR/stable repository](https://gitlab.uliege.be/especes/mar/stable) in your ``~/MAR`` folder, you may overwrite some of your own scripts in the process.
However, for various reasons, there's also a good chance you have already tuned some files present on this repository for your own needs, typically in `~/MAR/bin` and `~/MAR/usr`. Therefore, if you cloned or pulled the entire [ESPECES/MAR/stable repository](https://gitlab.uliege.be/especes/mar/stable) in your ``~/MAR`` folder, you may overwrite some of your own scripts in the process.
In this tutorial, you will learn how you can get only a subset of files and/or folders from a ``git`` repository. This boils down to running a few ``git`` commands to set up a _sparse checkout_ of a repository, a feature introduced in [version 2.25 of ``git``](https://github.blog/open-source/git/highlights-from-git-2-25/)(2020).
In this tutorial, you will learn how you can get only a subset of files and/or folders from a ``git`` repository. This boils down to running a few ``git`` commands to set up a _sparse checkout_ of a repository.
## Prerequisites
## Prerequisites
First of all, make sure ``git`` is available on the computer where you want to synchronize your ``~/MAR`` folder with a repository from this GitLab group. You do not necessarily need the latest version, but make sure to have at the very least [version 2.25](https://github.blog/open-source/git/highlights-from-git-2-25/).
First of all, make sure ``git`` is available on the computer where you want to synchronize your ``~/MAR`` folder with a repository from this GitLab group. You do not necessarily need the latest version, but make sure to have at the very least [version 2.25](https://github.blog/open-source/git/highlights-from-git-2-25/), which comes with the ``git sparse-checkout`` commands which you may want to use later.
