Git pulling a branch from another repository?
GitGithubGit BranchGit Problem Overview
I have a local git repository which is a clone of a repository on github. Someone has forked the repository and made changes in a new branch on a new repository. I want to move this new branch into my repository (locally to work on it first before merging with the master).
I tried creating a new branch and then pulling from the forked repository but it complains because the new branch is a copy of the master branch as well as the local file changes, so it says
error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge
.
So how can I pull the branch in the other repository into a new branch on my local repository?
I hope that makes sense. If not, this is my repository: https://github.com/MatthewLM/cbitcoin
As you can see, someone has created a new repository with the branch "linuxBuild": https://github.com/austonst/cbitcoin/tree/linuxBuild
I want that branch on my local repository for MatthewLM/cbitcoin.
How can I do this?
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
You need to make sure that git status
shows that no unstaged changes exist in your local repository.
You can do this by first stashing your local changes and than pulling that branch. Afterward you can apply your stash.
If you want to re-create the branch structure of the fork in your local repository, you can do the following:
git remote add fork <url of fork>
git fetch fork <branch>
git checkout -b fork_branch fork/<branch>
This will create the local branch fork_branch
with the same history like <branch>
in the fork, i.e. fork_branch
will branch off of your master
where <branch>
does in the fork.
Additionally, your local branch will now track that branch in the fork, so you can easily pull in new changes committed in the fork.
I think you still need to make sure beforehand that your working copy doesn't contain any changes.
If you do not need to track the fork:
git remote remove fork
Solution 2 - Git
Method without adding remote.
git checkout --orphan fork_branch
git reset --hard
git pull <url of fork> <branch>
Solution 3 - Git
I was able to do something similar using...
git switch -c new_branch
git pull https://github.com/<user>/<forked-repo>.git <branch>