New L4 project with clean history

l4project.sh

# Initial setup
git clone -o framework -b develop https://github.com/laravel/laravel.git project-name
cd project-name
git checkout --orphan master
git commit -m "Initial commit"

# Pulling changes
git fetch framework
git merge --squash -m "Upgrade Laravel" framework/develop
# Fix merge conflicts if any and commit

Just a quick note on doing the same now that laravel is stable, since you're cloning the master branch now you won't be able to run git checkout --orphan master because there's already a branch named master so the steps I take now are:

# Initial setup
git clone -o framework https://github.com/laravel/laravel.git project-name
cd project-name

# Rename pulled master branch
git branch -m master laravel

git checkout --orphan master
git commit -m "Initial commit"

# Pulling changes
git fetch framework
git merge --squash -m "Upgrade Laravel" framework/master
# Fix merge conflicts if any and commit

I think you can even delete the laravel branch but I'm not sure. Hope it helps.