git-pull_manual.txt

GIT-PULL(1)                       Git Manual                       GIT-PULL(1)


NNAAMMEE
       git-pull - Fetch from and merge with another repository or a local
       branch

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       _g_i_t _p_u_l_l [options] [<repository> [<refspec>...]]

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       Incorporates changes from a remote repository into the current branch.
       In its default mode, git pull is shorthand for git fetch followed by
       git merge FETCH_HEAD.

       More precisely, _g_i_t _p_u_l_l runs _g_i_t _f_e_t_c_h with the given parameters and
       calls _g_i_t _m_e_r_g_e to merge the retrieved branch heads into the current
       branch. With --rebase, it runs _g_i_t _r_e_b_a_s_e instead of _g_i_t _m_e_r_g_e.

       <repository> should be the name of a remote repository as passed to
       ggiitt--ffeettcchh(1). <refspec> can name an arbitrary remote ref (for example,
       the name of a tag) or even a collection of refs with corresponding
       remote-tracking branches (e.g., refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*),
       but usually it is the name of a branch in the remote repository.

       Default values for <repository> and <branch> are read from the "remote"
       and "merge" configuration for the current branch as set by ggiitt--
       bbrraanncchh(1) --track.

       Assume the following history exists and the current branch is "master":

                     A---B---C master on origin
                    /
               D---E---F---G master


       Then "git pull" will fetch and replay the changes from the remote
       master branch since it diverged from the local master (i.e., E) until
       its current commit (C) on top of master and record the result in a new
       commit along with the names of the two parent commits and a log message
       from the user describing the changes.

                     A---B---C remotes/origin/master
                    /         \
               D---E---F---G---H master


       See ggiitt--mmeerrggee(1) for details, including how conflicts are presented and
       handled.

       In git 1.7.0 or later, to cancel a conflicting merge, use git reset
       --merge. WWaarrnniinngg: In older versions of git, running _g_i_t _p_u_l_l with
       uncommitted changes is discouraged: while possible, it leaves you in a
       state that may be hard to back out of in the case of a conflict.

       If any of the remote changes overlap with local uncommitted changes,
       the merge will be automatically cancelled and the work tree untouched.
       It is generally best to get any local changes in working order before
       pulling or stash them away with ggiitt--ssttaasshh(1).

OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       Options meant for _g_i_t _p_u_l_l itself and the underlying _g_i_t _m_e_r_g_e must be
       given before the options meant for _g_i_t _f_e_t_c_h.

       -q, --quiet
           This is passed to both underlying git-fetch to squelch reporting of
           during transfer, and underlying git-merge to squelch output during
           merging.

       -v, --verbose
           Pass --verbose to git-fetch and git-merge.

       --[no-]recurse-submodules[=yes|on-demand|no]
           This option controls if new commits of all populated submodules
           should be fetched too (see ggiitt--ccoonnffiigg(1) and ggiittmmoodduulleess(5)). That
           might be necessary to get the data needed for merging submodule
           commits, a feature git learned in 1.7.3. Notice that the result of
           a merge will not be checked out in the submodule, "git submodule
           update" has to be called afterwards to bring the work tree up to
           date with the merge result.

   OOppttiioonnss rreellaatteedd ttoo mmeerrggiinngg
       --commit, --no-commit
           Perform the merge and commit the result. This option can be used to
           override --no-commit.

           With --no-commit perform the merge but pretend the merge failed and
           do not autocommit, to give the user a chance to inspect and further
           tweak the merge result before committing.

       --ff, --no-ff
           Do not generate a merge commit if the merge resolved as a
           fast-forward, only update the branch pointer. This is the default
           behavior of git-merge.

           With --no-ff Generate a merge commit even if the merge resolved as
           a fast-forward.

       --log[=<n>], --no-log
           In addition to branch names, populate the log message with one-line
           descriptions from at most <n> actual commits that are being merged.
           See also ggiitt--ffmmtt--mmeerrggee--mmssgg(1).

           With --no-log do not list one-line descriptions from the actual
           commits being merged.

       --stat, -n, --no-stat
           Show a diffstat at the end of the merge. The diffstat is also
           controlled by the configuration option merge.stat.

           With -n or --no-stat do not show a diffstat at the end of the
           merge.

       --squash, --no-squash
           Produce the working tree and index state as if a real merge
           happened (except for the merge information), but do not actually
           make a commit or move the HEAD, nor record $GIT_DIR/MERGE_HEAD to
           cause the next git commit command to create a merge commit. This
           allows you to create a single commit on top of the current branch
           whose effect is the same as merging another branch (or more in case
           of an octopus).

           With --no-squash perform the merge and commit the result. This
           option can be used to override --squash.

       --ff-only
           Refuse to merge and exit with a non-zero status unless the current
           HEAD is already up-to-date or the merge can be resolved as a
           fast-forward.

       -s <strategy>, --strategy=<strategy>
           Use the given merge strategy; can be supplied more than once to
           specify them in the order they should be tried. If there is no -s
           option, a built-in list of strategies is used instead (_g_i_t
           _m_e_r_g_e_-_r_e_c_u_r_s_i_v_e when merging a single head, _g_i_t _m_e_r_g_e_-_o_c_t_o_p_u_s
           otherwise).

       -X <option>, --strategy-option=<option>
           Pass merge strategy specific option through to the merge strategy.

       --summary, --no-summary
           Synonyms to --stat and --no-stat; these are deprecated and will be
           removed in the future.

       -q, --quiet
           Operate quietly. Implies --no-progress.

       -v, --verbose
           Be verbose.

       --progress, --no-progress
           Turn progress on/off explicitly. If neither is specified, progress
           is shown if standard error is connected to a terminal. Note that
           not all merge strategies may support progress reporting.

       --rebase
           Rebase the current branch on top of the upstream branch after
           fetching. If there is a remote-tracking branch corresponding to the
           upstream branch and the upstream branch was rebased since last
           fetched, the rebase uses that information to avoid rebasing
           non-local changes.

           See branch.<name>.rebase and branch.autosetuprebase in ggiitt--
           ccoonnffiigg(1) if you want to make git pull always use --rebase instead
           of merging.

               NNoottee
               This is a potentially _d_a_n_g_e_r_o_u_s mode of operation. It rewrites
               history, which does not bode well when you published that
               history already. Do nnoott use this option unless you have read
               ggiitt--rreebbaassee(1) carefully.

       --no-rebase
           Override earlier --rebase.

   OOppttiioonnss rreellaatteedd ttoo ffeettcchhiinngg
       --all
           Fetch all remotes.

       -a, --append
           Append ref names and object names of fetched refs to the existing
           contents of .git/FETCH_HEAD. Without this option old data in
           .git/FETCH_HEAD will be overwritten.

       --depth=<depth>
           Deepen the history of a _s_h_a_l_l_o_w repository created by git clone
           with --depth=<depth> option (see ggiitt--cclloonnee(1)) by the specified
           number of commits.

       -f, --force
           When _g_i_t _f_e_t_c_h is used with <rbranch>:<lbranch> refspec, it refuses
           to update the local branch <lbranch> unless the remote branch
           <rbranch> it fetches is a descendant of <lbranch>. This option
           overrides that check.

       -k, --keep
           Keep downloaded pack.

       --no-tags
           By default, tags that point at objects that are downloaded from the
           remote repository are fetched and stored locally. This option
           disables this automatic tag following. The default behavior for a
           remote may be specified with the remote.<name>.tagopt setting. See
           ggiitt--ccoonnffiigg(1).

       -u, --update-head-ok
           By default _g_i_t _f_e_t_c_h refuses to update the head which corresponds
           to the current branch. This flag disables the check. This is purely
           for the internal use for _g_i_t _p_u_l_l to communicate with _g_i_t _f_e_t_c_h,
           and unless you are implementing your own Porcelain you are not
           supposed to use it.

       --upload-pack <upload-pack>
           When given, and the repository to fetch from is handled by _g_i_t
           _f_e_t_c_h_-_p_a_c_k, _-_-_e_x_e_c_=_<_u_p_l_o_a_d_-_p_a_c_k_> is passed to the command to
           specify non-default path for the command run on the other end.

       --progress
           Progress status is reported on the standard error stream by default
           when it is attached to a terminal, unless -q is specified. This
           flag forces progress status even if the standard error stream is
           not directed to a terminal.

       <repository>
           The "remote" repository that is the source of a fetch or pull
           operation. This parameter can be either a URL (see the section GIT
           URLS below) or the name of a remote (see the section REMOTES
           below).

       <refspec>
           The format of a <refspec> parameter is an optional plus +, followed
           by the source ref <src>, followed by a colon :, followed by the
           destination ref <dst>.

           The remote ref that matches <src> is fetched, and if <dst> is not
           empty string, the local ref that matches it is fast-forwarded using
           <src>. If the optional plus + is used, the local ref is updated
           even if it does not result in a fast-forward update.

               NNoottee
               If the remote branch from which you want to pull is modified in
               non-linear ways such as being rewound and rebased frequently,
               then a pull will attempt a merge with an older version of
               itself, likely conflict, and fail. It is under these conditions
               that you would want to use the + sign to indicate
               non-fast-forward updates will be needed. There is currently no
               easy way to determine or declare that a branch will be made
               available in a repository with this behavior; the pulling user
               simply must know this is the expected usage pattern for a
               branch.

               NNoottee
               You never do your own development on branches that appear on
               the right hand side of a <refspec> colon on Pull: lines; they
               are to be updated by _g_i_t _f_e_t_c_h. If you intend to do development
               derived from a remote branch B, have a Pull: line to track it
               (i.e.  Pull: B:remote-B), and have a separate branch my-B to do
               your development on top of it. The latter is created by git
               branch my-B remote-B (or its equivalent git checkout -b my-B
               remote-B). Run git fetch to keep track of the progress of the
               remote side, and when you see something new on the remote
               branch, merge it into your development branch with git pull .
               remote-B, while you are on my-B branch.

               NNoottee
               There is a difference between listing multiple <refspec>
               directly on _g_i_t _p_u_l_l command line and having multiple Pull:
               <refspec> lines for a <repository> and running _g_i_t _p_u_l_l command
               without any explicit <refspec> parameters. <refspec> listed
               explicitly on the command line are always merged into the
               current branch after fetching. In other words, if you list more
               than one remote refs, you would be making an Octopus. While _g_i_t
               _p_u_l_l run without any explicit <refspec> parameter takes default
               <refspec>s from Pull: lines, it merges only the first <refspec>
               found into the current branch, after fetching all the remote
               refs. This is because making an Octopus from remote refs is
               rarely done, while keeping track of multiple remote heads in
               one-go by fetching more than one is often useful.
           Some short-cut notations are also supported.

           +o    tag <tag> means the same as refs/tags/<tag>:refs/tags/<tag>;
               it requests fetching everything up to the given tag.

           +o   A parameter <ref> without a colon is equivalent to <ref>: when
               pulling/fetching, so it merges <ref> into the current branch
               without storing the remote branch anywhere locally

GGIITT UURRLLSS
       In general, URLs contain information about the transport protocol, the
       address of the remote server, and the path to the repository. Depending
       on the transport protocol, some of this information may be absent.

       Git natively supports ssh, git, http, https, ftp, ftps, and rsync
       protocols. The following syntaxes may be used with them:

       +o   ssh://[user@]host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/

       +o   git://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/

       +o   http[s]://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/

       +o   ftp[s]://host.xz[:port]/path/to/repo.git/

       +o   rsync://host.xz/path/to/repo.git/

       An alternative scp-like syntax may also be used with the ssh protocol:

       +o   [user@]host.xz:path/to/repo.git/

       The ssh and git protocols additionally support ~username expansion:

       +o   ssh://[user@]host.xz[:port]/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/

       +o   git://host.xz[:port]/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/

       +o   [user@]host.xz:/~[user]/path/to/repo.git/

       For local repositories, also supported by git natively, the following
       syntaxes may be used:

       +o   /path/to/repo.git/

       +o    ffiillee:://////ppaatthh//ttoo//rreeppoo..ggiitt//

       These two syntaxes are mostly equivalent, except when cloning, when the
       former implies --local option. See ggiitt--cclloonnee(1) for details.

       When git doesn't know how to handle a certain transport protocol, it
       attempts to use the _r_e_m_o_t_e_-_<_t_r_a_n_s_p_o_r_t_> remote helper, if one exists. To
       explicitly request a remote helper, the following syntax may be used:

       +o   <transport>::<address>

       where <address> may be a path, a server and path, or an arbitrary
       URL-like string recognized by the specific remote helper being invoked.
       See ggiitt--rreemmoottee--hheellppeerrss(1) for details.

       If there are a large number of similarly-named remote repositories and
       you want to use a different format for them (such that the URLs you use
       will be rewritten into URLs that work), you can create a configuration
       section of the form:

                   [url "<actual url base>"]
                           insteadOf = <other url base>


       For example, with this:

                   [url "git://git.host.xz/"]
                           insteadOf = host.xz:/path/to/
                           insteadOf = work:


       a URL like "work:repo.git" or like "host.xz:/path/to/repo.git" will be
       rewritten in any context that takes a URL to be
       "git://git.host.xz/repo.git".

       If you want to rewrite URLs for push only, you can create a
       configuration section of the form:

                   [url "<actual url base>"]
                           pushInsteadOf = <other url base>


       For example, with this:

                   [url "ssh://example.org/"]
                           pushInsteadOf = git://example.org/


       a URL like "git://example.org/path/to/repo.git" will be rewritten to
       "ssh://example.org/path/to/repo.git" for pushes, but pulls will still
       use the original URL.

RREEMMOOTTEESS
       The name of one of the following can be used instead of a URL as
       <repository> argument:

       +o   a remote in the git configuration file: $GIT_DIR/config,

       +o   a file in the $GIT_DIR/remotes directory, or

       +o   a file in the $GIT_DIR/branches directory.

       All of these also allow you to omit the refspec from the command line
       because they each contain a refspec which git will use by default.

   NNaammeedd rreemmoottee iinn ccoonnffiigguurraattiioonn ffiillee
       You can choose to provide the name of a remote which you had previously
       configured using ggiitt--rreemmoottee(1), ggiitt--ccoonnffiigg(1) or even by a manual edit
       to the $GIT_DIR/config file. The URL of this remote will be used to
       access the repository. The refspec of this remote will be used by
       default when you do not provide a refspec on the command line. The
       entry in the config file would appear like this:

                   [remote "<name>"]
                           url = <url>
                           pushurl = <pushurl>
                           push = <refspec>
                           fetch = <refspec>


       The <pushurl> is used for pushes only. It is optional and defaults to
       <url>.

   NNaammeedd ffiillee iinn $$GGIITT__DDIIRR//rreemmootteess
       You can choose to provide the name of a file in $GIT_DIR/remotes. The
       URL in this file will be used to access the repository. The refspec in
       this file will be used as default when you do not provide a refspec on
       the command line. This file should have the following format:

                   URL: one of the above URL format
                   Push: <refspec>
                   Pull: <refspec>


       Push: lines are used by _g_i_t _p_u_s_h and Pull: lines are used by _g_i_t _p_u_l_l
       and _g_i_t _f_e_t_c_h. Multiple Push: and Pull: lines may be specified for
       additional branch mappings.

   NNaammeedd ffiillee iinn $$GGIITT__DDIIRR//bbrraanncchheess
       You can choose to provide the name of a file in $GIT_DIR/branches. The
       URL in this file will be used to access the repository. This file
       should have the following format:

                   <url>#<head>


       <url> is required; #<head> is optional.

       Depending on the operation, git will use one of the following refspecs,
       if you don't provide one on the command line. <branch> is the name of
       this file in $GIT_DIR/branches and <head> defaults to master.

       git fetch uses:

                   refs/heads/<head>:refs/heads/<branch>


       git push uses:

                   HEAD:refs/heads/<head>


MMEERRGGEE SSTTRRAATTEEGGIIEESS
       The merge mechanism (_g_i_t_-_m_e_r_g_e and _g_i_t_-_p_u_l_l commands) allows the
       backend _m_e_r_g_e _s_t_r_a_t_e_g_i_e_s to be chosen with -s option. Some strategies
       can also take their own options, which can be passed by giving
       -X<option> arguments to _g_i_t_-_m_e_r_g_e and/or _g_i_t_-_p_u_l_l.

       resolve
           This can only resolve two heads (i.e. the current branch and
           another branch you pulled from) using a 3-way merge algorithm. It
           tries to carefully detect criss-cross merge ambiguities and is
           considered generally safe and fast.

       recursive
           This can only resolve two heads using a 3-way merge algorithm. When
           there is more than one common ancestor that can be used for 3-way
           merge, it creates a merged tree of the common ancestors and uses
           that as the reference tree for the 3-way merge. This has been
           reported to result in fewer merge conflicts without causing
           mis-merges by tests done on actual merge commits taken from Linux
           2.6 kernel development history. Additionally this can detect and
           handle merges involving renames. This is the default merge strategy
           when pulling or merging one branch.

           The _r_e_c_u_r_s_i_v_e strategy can take the following options:

           ours
               This option forces conflicting hunks to be auto-resolved
               cleanly by favoring _o_u_r version. Changes from the other tree
               that do not conflict with our side are reflected to the merge
               result.

               This should not be confused with the _o_u_r_s merge strategy, which
               does not even look at what the other tree contains at all. It
               discards everything the other tree did, declaring _o_u_r history
               contains all that happened in it.

           theirs
               This is opposite of _o_u_r_s.

           patience
               With this option, _m_e_r_g_e_-_r_e_c_u_r_s_i_v_e spends a little extra time to
               avoid mismerges that sometimes occur due to unimportant
               matching lines (e.g., braces from distinct functions). Use this
               when the branches to be merged have diverged wildly. See also
               ggiitt--ddiiffff(1) --patience.

           ignore-space-change, ignore-all-space, ignore-space-at-eol
               Treats lines with the indicated type of whitespace change as
               unchanged for the sake of a three-way merge. Whitespace changes
               mixed with other changes to a line are not ignored. See also
               ggiitt--ddiiffff(1) -b, -w, and --ignore-space-at-eol.

               +o   If _t_h_e_i_r version only introduces whitespace changes to a
                   line, _o_u_r version is used;

               +o   If _o_u_r version introduces whitespace changes but _t_h_e_i_r
                   version includes a substantial change, _t_h_e_i_r version is
                   used;

               +o   Otherwise, the merge proceeds in the usual way.

           renormalize
               This runs a virtual check-out and check-in of all three stages
               of a file when resolving a three-way merge. This option is
               meant to be used when merging branches with different clean
               filters or end-of-line normalization rules. See "Merging
               branches with differing checkin/checkout attributes" in
               ggiittaattttrriibbuutteess(5) for details.

           no-renormalize
               Disables the renormalize option. This overrides the
               merge.renormalize configuration variable.

           rename-threshold=<n>
               Controls the similarity threshold used for rename detection.
               See also ggiitt--ddiiffff(1) -M.

           subtree[=<path>]
               This option is a more advanced form of _s_u_b_t_r_e_e strategy, where
               the strategy makes a guess on how two trees must be shifted to
               match with each other when merging. Instead, the specified path
               is prefixed (or stripped from the beginning) to make the shape
               of two trees to match.

       octopus
           This resolves cases with more than two heads, but refuses to do a
           complex merge that needs manual resolution. It is primarily meant
           to be used for bundling topic branch heads together. This is the
           default merge strategy when pulling or merging more than one
           branch.

       ours
           This resolves any number of heads, but the resulting tree of the
           merge is always that of the current branch head, effectively
           ignoring all changes from all other branches. It is meant to be
           used to supersede old development history of side branches. Note
           that this is different from the -Xours option to the _r_e_c_u_r_s_i_v_e
           merge strategy.

       subtree
           This is a modified recursive strategy. When merging trees A and B,
           if B corresponds to a subtree of A, B is first adjusted to match
           the tree structure of A, instead of reading the trees at the same
           level. This adjustment is also done to the common ancestor tree.

DDEEFFAAUULLTT BBEEHHAAVVIIOOUURR
       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 remote-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 remote-tracking branches), and its LHS and RHS must end with
       /*. The above specifies that all remote branches are tracked using
       remote-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:

        1. 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.

        2. If the refspec is a globbing one, nothing is merged.

        3. Otherwise the remote branch of the first refspec is merged.

EEXXAAMMPPLLEESS
       +o   Update the remote-tracking branches for the repository you cloned
           from, then merge one of them into your current branch:

               $ git pull, git pull origin

           Normally the branch merged in is the HEAD of the remote repository,
           but the choice is determined by the branch.<name>.remote and
           branch.<name>.merge options; see ggiitt--ccoonnffiigg(1) for details.

       +o   Merge into the current branch the remote branch next:

               $ git pull origin next

           This leaves a copy of next temporarily in FETCH_HEAD, but does not
           update any remote-tracking branches. Using remote-tracking
           branches, the same can be done by invoking fetch and merge:

               $ git fetch origin
               $ git merge origin/next


       If you tried a pull which resulted in a complex conflicts and would
       want to start over, you can recover with _g_i_t _r_e_s_e_t.

BBUUGGSS
       Using --recurse-submodules can only fetch new commits in already
       checked out submodules right now. When e.g. upstream added a new
       submodule in the just fetched commits of the superproject the submodule
       itself can not be fetched, making it impossible to check out that
       submodule later without having to do a fetch again. This is expected to
       be fixed in a future git version.

SSEEEE AALLSSOO
       ggiitt--ffeettcchh(1), ggiitt--mmeerrggee(1), ggiitt--ccoonnffiigg(1)

GGIITT
       Part of the ggiitt(1) suite


Git 1.7.5.4                       06/01/2011                       GIT-PULL(1)