to name the remote repository:
+
===============================================================
-- 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/
+- rsync://host.xz/path/to/repo.git/
+- http://host.xz/path/to/repo.git/
+- https://host.xz/path/to/repo.git/
+- git://host.xz/path/to/repo.git/
+- git://host.xz/~user/path/to/repo.git/
+- ssh://host.xz/path/to/repo.git/
+- ssh://host.xz/~user/path/to/repo.git/
+- ssh://host.xz/~/path/to/repo.git
+===============================================================
++
+SSH Is the default transport protocol and also supports an
+scp-like syntax. Both syntaxes support username expansion,
+as does the native git protocol. The following three are
+identical to the last three above, respectively:
++
+===============================================================
+- host.xz:/path/to/repo.git/
+- host.xz:~user/path/to/repo.git/
+- host.xz:path/to/repo.git
+===============================================================
++
+To sync with a local directory, use:
++
+===============================================================
+- /path/to/repo.git/
===============================================================
+
In addition to the above, as a short-hand, the name of a
named file should be in the following format:
+
URL: one of the above URL format
- Push: <refspec>...
- Pull: <refspec>...
+ 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:`
+line, <refspec> specified on `Push:` lines or `Pull:`
lines are used for `git-push` and `git-fetch`/`git-pull`,
respectively. Multiple `Push:` and and `Pull:` lines may
be specified for additional branch mappings.
[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`. The corollary is that
-a local branch should be introduced and named on a <refspec>
-right-hand-side if you intend to do development derived from
-that branch.
-This leads to 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`.
+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.
+