9011ffbea3107d082871cc73a5480b6b089299f5
   1<repository>::
   2        The "remote" repository that is the source of a fetch
   3        or pull operation.
   4include::urls.txt[]
   5
   6<refspec>::
   7        The canonical format of a <refspec> parameter is
   8        `+?<src>:<dst>`; that is, an optional plus `+`, followed
   9        by the source ref, followed by a colon `:`, followed by
  10        the destination ref.
  11+
  12The remote ref that matches <src>
  13is fetched, and if <dst> is not empty string, the local
  14ref that matches it is fast forwarded using <src>.
  15Again, if the optional plus `+` is used, the local ref
  16is updated even if it does not result in a fast forward
  17update.
  18+
  19[NOTE]
  20If the remote branch from which you want to pull is
  21modified in non-linear ways such as being rewound and
  22rebased frequently, then a pull will attempt a merge with
  23an older version of itself, likely conflict, and fail.
  24It is under these conditions that you would want to use
  25the `+` sign to indicate non-fast-forward updates will
  26be needed.  There is currently no easy way to determine
  27or declare that a branch will be made available in a
  28repository with this behavior; the pulling user simply
  29must know this is the expected usage pattern for a branch.
  30+
  31[NOTE]
  32You never do your own development on branches that appear
  33on the right hand side of a <refspec> colon on `Pull:` lines;
  34they are to be updated by `git-fetch`.  If you intend to do
  35development derived from a remote branch `B`, have a `Pull:`
  36line to track it (i.e. `Pull: B:remote-B`), and have a separate
  37branch `my-B` to do your development on top of it.  The latter
  38is created by `git branch my-B remote-B` (or its equivalent `git
  39checkout -b my-B remote-B`).  Run `git fetch` to keep track of
  40the progress of the remote side, and when you see something new
  41on the remote branch, merge it into your development branch with
  42`git pull . remote-B`, while you are on `my-B` branch.
  43The common `Pull: master:origin` mapping of a remote `master`
  44branch to a local `origin` branch, which is then merged to a
  45local development branch, again typically named `master`, is made
  46when you run `git clone` for you to follow this pattern.
  47+
  48[NOTE]
  49There is a difference between listing multiple <refspec>
  50directly on `git-pull` command line and having multiple
  51`Pull:` <refspec> lines for a <repository> and running
  52`git-pull` command without any explicit <refspec> parameters.
  53<refspec> listed explicitly on the command line are always
  54merged into the current branch after fetching.  In other words,
  55if you list more than one remote refs, you would be making
  56an Octopus.  While `git-pull` run without any explicit <refspec>
  57parameter takes default <refspec>s from `Pull:` lines, it
  58merges only the first <refspec> found into the current branch,
  59after fetching all the remote refs.  This is because making an
  60Octopus from remote refs is rarely done, while keeping track
  61of multiple remote heads in one-go by fetching more than one
  62is often useful.
  63+
  64Some short-cut notations are also supported.
  65+
  66* `tag <tag>` means the same as `refs/tags/<tag>:refs/tags/<tag>`; 
  67  it requests fetching everything up to the given tag.
  68* A parameter <ref> without a colon is equivalent to
  69  <ref>: when pulling/fetching, so it merges <ref> into the current
  70  branch without storing the remote branch anywhere locally