include::merge-strategies.adoc[]
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 the `URL:` line
in `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<origin>` is used.
In order to determine what remote branches to fetch (and
optionally store in the remote-tracking branches) when the command is
run without any refspec parameters on the command line, values
of the configuration variable `remote.<origin>.fetch` are
consulted, and if there aren't any, `$GIT_DIR/remotes/<origin>`
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:
. 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
--------
* 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 linkgit:git-config[1] for details.
* Merge into the current branch the remote branch `next`:
+
------------------------------------------------
$ git pull origin next
------------------------------------------------
+
This leaves a copy of `next` temporarily in FETCH_HEAD, and
updates the remote-tracking branch `origin/next`.
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 complex conflicts and
would want to start over, you can recover with 'git reset'.
include::transfer-data-leaks.adoc[]
BUGS
----
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 cannot 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.
SEE ALSO
--------
linkgit:git-fetch[1], linkgit:git-merge[1], linkgit:git-config[1]
GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite