Update a local branch with the changes from a tracked remote branch
GitBranchGit BranchRemote BranchGit Problem Overview
I have a local branch named 'my_local_branch
', which tracks a remote branch origin/my_remote_branch
.
Now, the remote branch has been updated, and I am on the 'my_local_branch
' and want to pull in those changes. Should I just do:
git pull origin my_remote_branch:my_local_branch
Is this the correct way?
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
You don't use the :
syntax - pull
always modifies the currently checked-out branch. Thus:
git pull origin my_remote_branch
while you have my_local_branch
checked out will do what you want.
Since you already have the tracking branch set, you don't even need to specify - you could just do...
git pull
while you have my_local_branch
checked out, and it will update from the tracked branch.
Solution 2 - Git
You have set the upstream of that branch
(see:
- "How do you make an existing git branch track a remote branch?" and
- "Git: Why do I need to do
--set-upstream-to
all the time?"
)
git branch -f --track my_local_branch origin/my_remote_branchOR (if my_local_branch is currently checked out):
$ git branch --set-upstream-to my_local_branch origin/my_remote_branch
(git branch -f --track
won't work if the branch is checked out: use the second command git branch --set-upstream-to
instead, or you would get "fatal: Cannot force update the current branch.
")
That means your branch is already configured with:
branch.my_local_branch.remote origin
branch.my_local_branch.merge my_remote_branch
Git already has all the necessary information.
In that case:
# if you weren't already on my_local_branch branch:
git checkout my_local_branch
# then:
git pull
is enough.
If you hadn't establish that upstream branch relationship when it came to push your 'my_local_branch
', then a simple git push -u origin my_local_branch:my_remote_branch
would have been enough to push and set the upstream branch.
After that, for the subsequent pulls/pushes, git pull
or git push
would, again, have been enough.
Solution 3 - Git
for somebody accidently mess the local commits.
delete local dirty branch
git branch -D master
then rebuild a branch from remote
git checkout -b master origin/master
Solution 4 - Git
Note: I am a git novice.
When I do a "git pull", I usually see "error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge:" "Please commit your changes or stash them before merge." (Because I've made minor temp changes that I don't really care about.)
I typically don't care about my changes if I am pulling from remote. I just want the latest that the team has pushed. (I have used "stash" on occasion to keep some changes.)
So, what I do to pull the latest from remote and wipe out any of my local changes:
git reset --hard (for current branch)
or
git reset --hard origin/master (for going back to master)
then:
git pull (pulls the current remote files to my local)