Re: merge vs. rebase question

On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 9:14 AM, Dennis Putnam [off-list ref] wrote:

As a git noob I am having trouble understanding when to use which
commands. I have a repository (bare) on my Linux server. I also created
a build directory as a local repository. In my build script I do a 'git
pull' to make sure the build directory is up to date. No changes are
made to my source so this repository never does an 'add' or 'commit'.
When I run my script with 'pull', the output indicates that changes were
found and seems to have pulled them into the local directory. However,
when I look at the resulting source, none of the expected changes show
up. I then tried a 'fetch' and 'rebase'. That worked but I don't
understand why. I thought 'pull' did a 'fetch' and a 'merge' so I don't
understand why a 'fetch' and 'rebase' worked but 'fetch' and 'merge' did
not. Unless my understanding of what 'pull' does is wrong. In my case,
what should I be using in my script to assure that the build directory
is current?

If your build directory never has any source changes or new commits,
then pull is the right thing to do.  You might want to use 'git pull
--ff-only' to guarantee that your build directory is not creating
merges unexpectedly.

You did not provide enough information to help figure out why your
pull is failing to achieve the results you expect.  I suggest you
perform the pull manually in your build directory.  If it fails, git
should tell you why.  If it reports success but actually fails, you
can post a detailed explanation of the problem here so someone can
suggest the cause.

Phil