<repository>::
- The "remote" repository to pull from. One of the
- following notations can be used to name the repository
- to pull from:
-+
-===============================================================
-- Rsync URL: rsync://remote.machine/path/to/repo.git/
-- HTTP(s) URL: http://remote.machine/path/to/repo.git/
-- GIT URL: git://remote.machine/path/to/repo.git/
- or remote.machine:/path/to/repo.git/
-- Local directory: /path/to/repo.git/
-===============================================================
-+
-In addition to the above, as a short-hand, the name of a
-file in $GIT_DIR/remotes directory can be given; the
-named file should be in the following format:
-+
- URL: one of the above URL format
- Push: <refspec>...
- Pull: <refspec>...
-+
-When such a short-hand is specified in place of
-<repository> without <refspec> parameters on the command
-line, <refspec>... specified on Push lines or Pull lines
-are used for "git push" and "git fetch/pull",
-respectively.
-+
-The name of a file in $GIT_DIR/branches directory can be
-specified as an older notation short-hand; the named
-file should contain a single line, a URL in one of the
-above formats, optionally followed by a hash '#' and the
-name of remote head (URL fragment notation).
-$GIT_DIR/branches/<remote> file that stores a <url>
-without the fragment is equivalent to have this in the
-corresponding file in the $GIT_DIR/remotes/ directory
-+
- URL: <url>
- Pull: refs/heads/master:<remote>
-+
-while having <url>#<head> is equivalent to
-+
- URL: <url>
- Pull: refs/heads/<head>:<remote>
+ The "remote" repository that is the source of a fetch
+ or pull operation. See the section <<URLS,GIT URLS>> below.
<refspec>::
The canonical format of a <refspec> parameter is
- '+?<src>:<dst>'; that is, an optional plus '+', followed
- by the source ref, followed by a colon ':', followed by
+ `+?<src>:<dst>`; that is, an optional plus `+`, followed
+ by the source ref, followed by a colon `:`, followed by
the destination ref.
+
-When used in "git push", the <src> side can be an
-arbitrary "SHA1 expression" that can be used as an
-argument to "git-cat-file -t". E.g. "master~4" (push
-four parents before the current master head).
-+
-For "git push", the local ref that matches <src> is used
-to fast forward the remote ref that matches <dst>. If
-the optional plus '+' is used, the remote ref is updated
-even if it does not result in a fast forward update.
-+
-For "git fetch/pull", the remote ref that matches <src>
+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>.
-Again, if the optional plus '+' is used, the local ref
+Again, if the optional plus `+` is used, the local ref
is updated even if it does not result in a fast forward
update.
+
+[NOTE]
+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.
++
+[NOTE]
+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 `git-fetch`. 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.
+The common `Pull: master:origin` mapping of a remote `master`
+branch to a local `origin` branch, which is then merged to a
+local development branch, again typically named `master`, is made
+when you run `git clone` for you to follow this pattern.
++
+[NOTE]
+There is a difference between listing multiple <refspec>
+directly on `git-pull` command line and having multiple
+`Pull:` <refspec> lines for a <repository> and running
+`git-pull` 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 `git-pull` 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.
+
-* For backward compatibility, "tag" is almost ignored;
- it just makes the following parameter <tag> to mean a
- refspec "refs/tags/<tag>:refs/tags/<tag>".
+* `tag <tag>` means the same as `refs/tags/<tag>:refs/tags/<tag>`;
+ it requests fetching everything up to the given tag.
* A parameter <ref> without a colon is equivalent to
- <ref>: when pulling/fetching, and <ref>:<ref> when
- pushing. That is, do not store it locally if
- fetching, and update the same name if pushing.
-
--a, \--append::
- Append ref names and object names of fetched refs to the
- existing contents of $GIT_DIR/FETCH_HEAD. Without this
- option old data in $GIT_DIR/FETCH_HEAD will be overwritten.
-
--f, \--force::
- Usually, the command refuses to update a local ref that is
- not an ancestor of the remote ref used to overwrite it.
- This flag disables the check. What this means is that the
- local repository can lose commits; use it with care.
+ <ref>: when pulling/fetching, so it merges <ref> into the current
+ branch without storing the remote branch anywhere locally