Re: Git rescue mission
From: Junio C Hamano <hidden>
Date: 2016-06-15 22:42:53
Alexander Litvinov [off-list ref] writes:
I think this should go to git-pull/git-clone man pages. Personaly for me this post dispels dark magic about git-pull's merging logic. I always did git-fetch and then git-pull . <some-branch> to control what and where should be merged.
Fair enough. But I am known to be very bad at writing, so I would ask the list to proofread this to see if it makes sense, and prefereably rewrite it to make it easier to understand. I think it is technically accurate -- I just do not know if I am not writing enough, leaving certain necessary things unsaid, because I assumed (wrongly) too much knowledge on the reader's side.
diff --git a/Documentation/git-pull.txt b/Documentation/git-pull.txt
index a81d68c..94478ed 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-pull.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-pull.txt@@ -33,6 +33,60 @@ include::urls.txt[] include::merge-strategies.txt[] +DEFAULT BEHAVIOUR +----------------- + +Often people use `git pull` without giving any parameter. +Traditionally, this has been equivalent to saying `git pull +origin`. However, when configuration `branch.<name>.remote` is +present while on branch `<name>`, that value is used instead of +`origin`. + +In order to determine what URL to use to fetch from, the value +of the configuration `remote.<origin>.url` is consulted +and if there is not any such variable, the value on `URL: ` line +in `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<origin>` file is used. + +In order to determine what remote branches to fetch (and +optionally store in the tracking branches) when the command is +run without any refspec parameters on the command line, values +of the configuration variable `remote.<origin>.fetch` are +consulted, and if there aren't any, `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<origin>` +file is consulted and its `Pull: ` lines are used. +In addition to the refspec formats described in the OPTIONS +section, you can have a globbing refspec that looks like this: + +------------ +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/* +------------ + +A globbing refspec must have a non-empty RHS (i.e. must store +what were fetched in tracking branches), and its LHS and RHS +must end with `/*`. The above specifies that all remote +branches are tracked using tracking branches in +`refs/remotes/origin/` hierarchy under the same name. + +The rule to determine which remote branch to merge after +fetching is a bit involved, in order not to break backward +compatibility. + +If explicit refspecs were given on the command +line of `git pull`, they are all merged. + +When no refspec was given on the command line, then `git pull` +uses the refspec from the configuration or +`$GIT_DIR/remotes/<origin>`. In such cases, the following +rules apply: + +. If `branch.<name>.merge` configuration for the current + branch `<name>` exists, that is the name of the branch at the + remote site that is merged. + +. If the refspec is a globbing one, nothing is merged. + +. Otherwise the remote branch of the first refspec is merged. + + EXAMPLES --------