why no "git fetch --dry-run" ?

Hello List,
I am curious why there is "git push --dry-run" and no "git fetch
--dry-run" nor "git pull --dry-run". It would make sense to keep
push/pull/fetch as symmetric as possible.
For example, I just want to see which branches, if any, changed on a
remote repository since my last fetch. "git fetch -v --dry-run" would
be handy in this case.

--Leo--

On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 04:41:57PM -0500, Leo Razoumov [off-list ref] wrote:

I am curious why there is "git push --dry-run" and no "git fetch
--dry-run" nor "git pull --dry-run". It would make sense to keep
push/pull/fetch as symmetric as possible.
For example, I just want to see which branches, if any, changed on a
remote repository since my last fetch. "git fetch -v --dry-run" would
be handy in this case.

Actually fetch - at a core level - isn't symmetric to push, the protocol
is completely different. I haven't checked the source, but I suppose
that the push protocol has "dry run" support, while the fetch one
doesn't have.

2008/11/21 Miklos Vajna [off-list ref]:

On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 04:41:57PM -0500, Leo Razoumov [off-list ref] wrote:

quoted

I am curious why there is "git push --dry-run" and no "git fetch
--dry-run" nor "git pull --dry-run". It would make sense to keep
push/pull/fetch as symmetric as possible.
For example, I just want to see which branches, if any, changed on a
remote repository since my last fetch. "git fetch -v --dry-run" would
be handy in this case.

Actually fetch - at a core level - isn't symmetric to push, the protocol
is completely different. I haven't checked the source, but I suppose
that the push protocol has "dry run" support, while the fetch one
doesn't have.

I wrote the patch for "push --dry-run" because I was more worried
about messing up the central repository (which I can't fix) than
messing up my local repository (which I can). It just needed a few
checks added to send-pack to make it work. I guess it's not been done
for fetch yet because nobody had that itch, shouldn't be too hard to
write. Certainly, other people have asked for it.

-Baz