conan.io: clone package repository in consumer's working directory

I have a source-only package with the following directory structure:

src (directory containing source files)
conanfile.py

The pkg's recipe conanfile.py looks like this: (copy everything when doing the pack)

from conans import ConanFile, CMake, tools

class PkgConan(ConanFile):
   name = "pkg"
   version = "0.0.1"
   license = "License of pkg here"
   url = "URL of pkg here"
   description = "Description of pkg here"
   settings = "os", "compiler", "build_type", "arch"
   generators = "cmake"

def package(self):
    self.copy("*")

def package_info(self):
    self.cpp_info.libs = ["pkg"]

My package is consumed by an integration project which copies the pkg's sources in its working directory. The consumer's recipe conanfile.txt looks like this:

[requires]
   pkg/0.0.1@user/test

[imports]
   ., * -> ./packages/pkg

When installing the dependencies in the integration project, the pkg's sources are copied in the consumer's working directory as expected.
Consumer's working directory:

packages
   pkg
      src (directory containing pkg's source files)
      conanfile.py
conanfile.txt

Here's my usecase: The pkg is versioned with git and uploaded to GitHub. I want to have the entire git repository of pkg in the consumer's working directory instead of only pkg's sources.
Expected consumer's working directory:

packages
   pkg (repository cloned from GitHub)
      .git
      src 
      conanfile.py
conanfile.txt

??? Is it possible with conan to clone the package repository in the consumer's working directory and also checkout the correct version (e.g. checkout commit/tag corresponding to the required version) instead of using the sources coming from [imports] ., * -> ./packages/pkg ??? E.g. I found a bug in pkg, I want to correct it in the consumer's context and provide the bugfix back.

Solution

It is not possible, at least with the approach you are following and current conan features. There could be other issues, not related to conan, for example, the ".git" folder might not be relocatable to other system.

Then, the approach is relatively fragile if at some point you have settings, options, requirements of different versions, as you could end with different packages, for the same recipe. Remember that 1 recipe => N "binaries". Even if you are not building from sources, this relation is maintained. And of course, trying to use conan for binaries, which is the main use case, will break this.

I think you might be interested in the new SCM feature: https://docs.conan.io/en/latest/creating_packages/package_repo.html#capturing-the-remote-and-commit-from-git-scm-experimental. With this repo the flow would be:

Add scm, with auto field to your recipes. The commit will be captured when the package is created.
Work with your package, lets say MyPkg/0.1@user/channel, which has a dependency to MyDep/0.2@user/channel.
If at some point you want to edit MyDep/0.2@user/channel, checks its SCM detail with: conan get MyDep/0.2@user/channel
git clone with those details.
Use the local workflow to edit and build that package locally: https://docs.conan.io/en/latest/developing_packages/package_dev_flow.html
When you want to check if MyPkg/0.1@user/channel works properly with latest changes, of MyDep, make sure that you run the last step conan export-pkg over MyDep, so the latest changes are in the conan local cache.

This flow is what the conan Workspaces aims to further automate: https://docs.conan.io/en/latest/developing_packages/workspaces.html. The idea could be to have a conan workspace open MyDep/0.1@user/channel to automate the above steps, and bring a dependency from the local cache directly to your current user workspace. Note that this is not implemented yet.