use git fetch instead of git clone. git clone is lacking in that it does not permit cloning at a specific rev. when paired with `--branch` flag, there is no guarantee if the required rev is available in the shallow clone. with git fetch however, we are able to fetch a specific rev. the steps are a little more involved however: git init git remote add origin <url> git fetch --depth=<d> --recurse-submodules=<yes|no> <sha> git checkout FETCH_HEAD Signed-off-by: oppiliappan <me@oppi.li>