What are the differences between `git pull` and `git fetch`?

What is the difference between &#39;git pull&#39; and &#39;git fetch&#39;?

How do I force an overwrite of local files on a `git pull`?

**The scenario is the following:**

- A team member is modifying the templates for a website we are working on
- They are adding some images to the images directory (but forgets to add them under source control)
- They are sending the images by mail, later, to me
- I&#39;m adding the images under the source control and pushing them to GitHub together with other changes
- They cannot pull updates from GitHub because Git doesn&#39;t want to overwrite their files.

**This is the error I&#39;m getting:**

&gt; error: Untracked working tree file &#39;public/images/icon.gif&#39; would be overwritten by merge

How do I force Git to overwrite them? The person is a designer - usually, I resolve all the conflicts by hand, so the server has the most recent version that they just need to update on their computer.

  [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_%28software%29


How do I force &quot;git pull&quot; to overwrite local files?

My colleague and I are working on the same repository. We&#39;ve branched it into two branches, each technically for different projects, but they have similarities, so we&#39;ll sometimes want to commit back to the *`master` from the `branch`.

However, I have the `branch`. How can my colleague pull that branch specifically?

A `git clone` of the repository does not seem to create the branches locally for him, though I can see them live on unfuddle after a push on my end.

Also, when I originally made the branch, I did `-b checkout`. Does that make much difference?

    $ git branch -r
    origin/HEAD -&gt; origin/master
    origin/daves_branch
    origin/discover
    origin/master

    $ git fetch origin discover
    $ git checkout discover

These are the commands I ran. But it definitely is not working.

**I want to be able to check out that branch and then push and commit back just the branches changes from various collaborators or workstations**.


Git fetch remote branch

On my branch I had some files in .gitignore

On a different branch those files are not.

I want to merge the different branch into mine, and I don&#39;t care if those files are no longer ignored or not.

Unfortunately I get this: 

&gt; The following untracked working tree files would be overwritten by merge

How would I modify my pull command to overwrite those files, without me having to find, move or delete those files myself?

The following untracked working tree files would be overwritten by merge, but I don&#39;t care

When I do `git fetch origin` and origin has a deleted branch, it doesn&#39;t seem to update it in my repository. When I do `git branch -r` it still shows `origin/DELETED_BRANCH`.

How can I fix this?

fetch from origin with deleted remote branches?

[Another question][1] says that `git pull` is like a `git fetch` + `git merge`.

But what is the difference between `git pull` and `git fetch` + `git rebase`?

  [1]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/292357/whats-the-difference-between-git-pull-and-git-fetch

What is the difference between git pull and git fetch + git rebase?

I have cloned a repository, after which somebody else has created a new branch, which I&#39;d like to start working on.  I read the manual, and it seems dead straight easy.  Strangely it&#39;s not working, and all the posts I&#39;ve found suggest I&#39;m doing the right thing.  So I&#39;ll subject myself to the lambasting, because there *must* be something obviously wrong with this:

The correct action *seems* to be 

    git fetch
    git branch -a
    * master
      remotes/origin/HEAD --&gt; origin/master
      remotes/origin/master
    git checkout -b dev-gml origin/dev-gml

At this point there is a problem, for some reason after `git fetch` I can&#39;t see the dev-gml remote branch.  Why not?  If I clone the repository freshly, it&#39;s there, so certainly the remote branch exists:

    $ mkdir ../gitest
    $ cd ../gitest
    $ git clone https://github.com/example/proj.git
    Cloning into proj...
    remote: Counting objects: 1155, done.
    remote: Compressing objects: 100% (383/383), done.
    remote: Total 1155 (delta 741), reused 1155 (delta 741)
    Receiving objects: 100% (1155/1155), 477.22 KiB | 877 KiB/s, done.
    Resolving deltas: 100% (741/741), done.
    $ cd projdir
    $ git branch -a
    * master
      remotes/origin/HEAD -&gt; origin/master
      remotes/origin/dev-gml
      remotes/origin/master

I&#39;ve tried `git update`, `git pull`, `git fetch --all`, `git pretty-please` in all possible permutations...


fetch in git doesn&#39;t get all branches

A nice and simple question - is the function of &quot;git fetch&quot; a strict sub-set of `git fetch --tags`?

I.e. if I run `git fetch --tags`, is there ever a reason to immediately run `git fetch` straight afterward?


What about `git pull` and `git pull --tags`? Same situation?



Does &quot;git fetch --tags&quot; include &quot;git fetch&quot;?

When I try to pull in my project directory in the terminal, I see the following error:

    harsukh@harsukh-desktop:~/Sites/branch1$ git pull origin master
    U app/config/app.php
    U app/config/database.php
    U app/routes.php
    Pull is not possible because you have unmerged files.
    Please, fix them up in the work tree, and then use &#39;git add/rm &lt;file&gt;&#39;
    as appropriate to mark resolution, or use &#39;git commit -a&#39;.

Why does git say `&quot;Pull is not possible because you have unmerged files&quot;`, and how can I resolve it?

Why does git say &quot;Pull is not possible because you have unmerged files&quot;?

I randomly hit this today while trying to run Git *garbage collect*:

    $ git gc
    fatal: bad object refs/remotes/origin/HEAD
    error: failed to run repack

How do I deal with this?

How to handle git gc fatal: bad object refs/remotes/origin/HEAD error?

`git pull --help` says:

&gt; In its default mode, `git pull` is shorthand for `git fetch` followed by `git merge FETCH_HEAD`.

What is this `FETCH_HEAD` and what is actually merged during `git pull`?

What does FETCH_HEAD in Git mean?

I am working on a Git branch that has some broken tests, and I would like to pull (merge changes, not just overwrite) these tests from another branch where they are already fixed.

I know I can do

    git pull origin that_other_branch

but this will attempt to merge lots of other files, for that I am not yet ready.

Is it possible to pull and merge only the specified file (and not everything) from that another branch?

This is not a duplicate of *[Git pull request for just one file][1]* as all answers to that question are how to revert the locally changed file to the repository version, without changing any branches.

  [1]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8421552/git-pull-request-for-just-one-file



Is it possible to pull just one file in Git?

Is there any way to retrieve only one specific commit from a remote Git repo without cloning it on my PC? The structure of remote repo is absolutely same as that of mine and hence there won&#39;t be any conflicts but I have no idea how to do this and I don&#39;t want to clone that huge repository.

I am new to git, is there any way?

Retrieve specific commit from a remote Git repository

Is `git remote update` the equivalent of `git fetch`?

Differences between git remote update and fetch?

I&#39;ve forked from a repo on GitHub. I want to get the code from a branch on another user&#39;s fork.  

Must I clone this user&#39;s whole repo to a separate local repo or can I do something like `git checkout link_to_the_other_users_branch`?

How do I fetch a branch on someone else&#39;s fork on GitHub?

I have created a git repository to mirror a live site (which is a non-bare git repository):

    git clone --mirror ssh://user@example.com/path/to/repo

Now, to keep this mirror clone updated with all changes from its remote origin, which command or commands I must use?

I&#39;d like to keep everything updated: commits, refs, hooks, branches, etc.

Thanks!

How to update a git clone --mirror?

I am working on a site with a server running Git. I am using Git for deployment (not GitHub). This was set up prior to my involvement using a [hook method][1], and I referred to [this question][2] and entered the commands below, but it didn&#39;t work.

How do I pull a single file from the server? For instance, if I wanted to update my local file index.php? `git pull index.php`?

  [1]: https://danbarber.me/using-git-for-deployment/
  [2]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11245424/pull-single-file-on-server


Git: How to pull a single file from a server repository in Git?

I&#39;m learning git, and I&#39;m following the Git community book. 

Previously (long time ago) I made a public repository on Github, with some files. Now I set up a local Git repository on my current computer, and committed some files. Then I added a remote pointing to my Github page:
 
    [root@osboxes c]# git remote add learnc https://github.com/michaelklachko/Learning-C

That seemed to be successful: 

    [root@osboxes c]# git remote show learnc
    * remote learnc
      Fetch URL: https://github.com/michaelklachko/Learning-C
      Push  URL: https://github.com/michaelklachko/Learning-C
      HEAD branch: master
      Remote branch:
        master tracked
      Local ref configured for &#39;git push&#39;:
        master pushes to master (local out of date)


Now I want to download the files from my Github repo to my computer. I did this:

    [root@osboxes c]# git fetch learnc
    [root@osboxes c]# git merge learnc/master
    warning: refname &#39;learnc/master&#39; is ambiguous.
    Already up-to-date.

However, I don&#39;t see any new files in my local directory. How can I get them? 

I also tried to do this:

    [root@osboxes c]# git pull learnc master
    From https://github.com/michaelklachko/Learning-C
     * branch            master     -&gt; FETCH_HEAD
    fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories

BTW, locally I&#39;m on master branch (there are no other branches):


    [root@osboxes c]# git status
    On branch master
    nothing to commit, working directory clean




 

Trying to pull files from my Github repository: &quot;refusing to merge unrelated histories&quot;

I would like to know if my local repo is up to date (and if not, ideally, I would like to see the changes).

How could I check this without doing `git fetch` or `git pull` ?

Git: How to check if a local repo is up to date?

I am working with a ruby on rails application and I am trying to sync a fork. It is worth mentioning that I am also on a Mac. I committed the following action:

    $ git remote -v

to get a view of my local repository. I messed up when trying to go `upstream`:

    $ git remote add upstream https://github.com/foo/repo.git

When I should have capitalized Foo:

    $ git remote add upstream https://github.com/Foo/repos.git

The question is how do I remove the `upstream` because every time I try and change this it comes back with creating a `fatal` error?

Git removing upstream from local repository

I have set up some remote tracking branches in git, but I never seem to be able to merge them into the local branch once I have updated them with &#39;git fetch&#39;.

For example, suppose I have remote branch called &#39;an-other-branch&#39;. I set that up locally as a tracking branch using

    git branch --track an-other-branch origin/an-other-branch

So far, so good. But if that branch gets updated (usually by me moving machine and commiting from that machine), and I want to update it on the original machine, I&#39;m running into trouble with fetch/merge:

    git fetch origin an-other-branch
    git merge origin/an-other-branch

Whenever I do this, I get an &#39;Already up-to-date&#39; message and nothing merges.

However, a

    git pull origin an-other-branch

always updates it like you would expect.

Also, running git diff

    git diff origin/an-other-branch

shows that there are differences, so I think I have my syntax wrong.

What am I doing wrong?

**EDIT [2010-04-09]:** I have checked a couple of times, and I&#39;m definitely not on a different branch. Should my &#39;git fetch&#39; followed by a &#39;git merge&#39; (as shown above) do the exact same thing as a git pull? I will get some workflow showing the results of a git status etc.




How Do I &#39;git fetch&#39; and &#39;git merge&#39; from a Remote Tracking Branch (like &#39;git pull&#39;)

I set up a remote repository and I can push new changes to it, but I cannot fetch from it, I always get the (rather cryptic) error message:

    fatal: Refusing to fetch into current branch refs/heads/master of non-bare repository
    fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

What does it mean? What should I do to enable fetching?

(Note that this remote repo is only used as a backup repo, so it should be pretty much an exact copy of my local repository. I really can&#39;t understand why I can push to it but not fetch from it...)

My config looks like:

    [remote &quot;origin&quot;]
        url = ssh://blablablah
        fetch = +refs/*:refs/*
        mirror = true

git refusing to fetch into current branch

At one point I thought that `git fetch origin --prune` deleted local branches that were no longer present on the server. Somehow this is not my experience at the moment.

I ran this command, and the local branch was not deleted. It is *not* currently checked out. I ran `git branch -vv` to check this info, and I see

    feature/MyGreatFeature           f30efc7 [origin/feature/MyGreatFeature: gone]

So it seems to know that it is gone. Why would it not delete my local branch?

Running `git version 2.7.4 (Apple Git-66)`

git fetch origin --prune doesn&#39;t delete local branches?

I didn&#39;t want to lose some information after a `git pull`, so I did a `git fetch` before. Where can I read the new modifications after a `git fetch`? I went to the `FETCH_HEAD` file, but there was nothing more than a big number.

Where to find changes due to `git fetch`

I am having a hard time understanding the nuances of git-fetch. I understand that doing a `fetch`, fetches the remote refs into a local tracking branch.

I have a few questions though:

1. Can it be possible that a local tracking branch does not exist? If so, will it then be created automatically?

2. What will happen if I do a `fetch` and specify a non tracking branch as the destination?

3. The man page for git-fetch specifies:
    
        git-fetch &lt;options&gt; &lt;repository&gt; &lt;refspec&gt;

How would I use the refspec to fetch contents from my remote master into its remote tracking branch? I believe this may be possible if my current HEAD is on master and I run

`git fetch origin master`

However, can I use the `&lt;+?src:dest&gt;` refspec to achieve the same thing? I think this will help me understand the concepts better.

And one more question:

My .git/config file has the following line for fetching (showing only relevant lines):

	fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

Can someone please explain what this line exactly means?

Having a hard time understanding git-fetch

This command fetches **all** tags:

    git fetch origin --tags

This command fetches a specific tag:

    git fetch origin refs/tags/1.0.0

**But** that doesn&#39;t let me do:

    git checkout tags/2.3.18

How can I fetch a single tag and then perform a checkout?

Fetch a single tag from remote repository

I&#39;ve read from various sources that it&#39;s usually a better idea to fetch *then* merge rather than simply pull as it allows for finer control.  That said, I&#39;ve yet to find actually how to do it.  Case in point:

There was a small change made to some of the code in one of my GitHub repository&#39;s master branch.  I was able to fetch it, but I don&#39;t know how to actually merge the differences in with *my* local master branch.  `git branch` lists all of the local branches I have, but nothing indicating anything to merge to.

So, is it just something like `git merge master` or `git merge origin/master`?  What am I missing?

All Git Fetch Solutions on Gang of Coders

Total of 27 Git Fetch Solutions

What is the difference between 'git pull' and 'git fetch'?

How do I force "git pull" to overwrite local files?

Git fetch remote branch

The following untracked working tree files would be overwritten by merge, but I don't care

fetch from origin with deleted remote branches?

What is the difference between git pull and git fetch + git rebase?

fetch in git doesn't get all branches

Does "git fetch --tags" include "git fetch"?

Why does git say "Pull is not possible because you have unmerged files"?