Re: Git workflow with upstream repository

On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 9:43 PM, Bradley Wagner
[off-list ref] wrote:

Thanks, I'll check those out! So, I take it there is not a way to get
a simple message like what git status tells you when you're local
branch is behind the remote branch:

"Your branch is behind 'origin/master' by 1 commit, and can be fast-forwarded."

As far as I know, any given branch can only "track" one particular
branch, and that message is only generated relative to the branch
you're tracking.  You can adjust which one you're tracking by editing
.git/config.

Is there even a concept of a fast-forward merge when pulling from a
remote repo that is not the remote to which your branches are
tracking?

Yes.  Tracking branches are really just a notational convenience.  In
fact, they don't do very much more than generating the above message.
(The other thing they do is make 'git pull' do something by default
when you don't give it any other parameters.)

You might enjoy this article:
http://eagain.net/articles/git-for-computer-scientists/

Is it possible to rebase based on a branch that is *not* the branch
you're currently tracking? Is that what the --onto flag is for?

Yes, it's possible.  The question of when you do or don't need the
--onto option is a little more complex than that, but yes, that's
what's it's for, more or less.

Have fun,

Avery