GIT: FETCH AND MERGE, DON’T PULL
[In https://longair.net/blog/2009/04/16/git-fetch-and-merge/] GIT: FETCH AND MERGE, DON’T PULL 2009-04-16 MARK 118 COMMENTS This is too long and rambling, but to steal a joke from Mark Twain Blaise Pascal I haven’t had time to make it shorter yet. There is some discussion of this post on the git mailing list , but much of it is tangential to the points I’m trying to make here. One of the git tips that I find myself frequently passing on to people is: Don’t use git pull , use git fetch and then git merge . The problem with git pull is that it has all kinds of helpful magic that means you don’t really have to learn about the different types of branch in git. Mostly things Just Work, but when they don’t it’s often difficult to work out why. What seem like obvious bits of syntax for git pull may have rather surprising results, as even a cursory look through the manual page should convince you. The other problem is that by both fetching and merging in one