Documentation/git-pull.txt

git-pull(1)
===========

NAME
----
git-pull - Pull and merge from another repository.


SYNOPSIS
--------
'git-pull' <options> <repository> <refspec>...


DESCRIPTION
-----------
Runs `git-fetch` with the given parameters, and calls `git-merge`
to merge the retrieved head(s) into the current branch.

Note that you can use `.` (current directory) as the
<repository> to pull from the local repository -- this is useful
when merging local branches into the current branch.

OPTIONS
-------
include::pull-fetch-param.txt[]

-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.

include::merge-pull-opts.txt[]


MERGE STRATEGIES
----------------

resolve::
	This can only resolve two heads (i.e. the current branch
	and another branch you pulled from) using 3-way merge
	algorithm.  It tries to carefully detect criss-cross
	merge ambiguities and is considered generally safe and
	fast.  This is the default merge strategy when pulling
	one branch.

recursive::
	This can only resolve two heads using 3-way merge
	algorithm.  When there are more than one common
	ancestors that can be used for 3-way merge, it creates a
	merged tree of the common ancestores and uses that as
	the reference tree for the 3-way merge.  This has been
	reported to result in fewer merge conflicts without
	causing mis-merges by tests done on actual merge commits
	taken from Linux 2.6 kernel development history.
	Additionally this can detect and handle merges involving
	renames.

octopus::
	This resolves more than two-head case, but refuses to do
	complex merge that needs manual resolution.  It is
	primarily meant to be used for bundling topic branch
	heads together.  This is the default merge strategy when
	pulling more than one branch.

ours::
	This resolves any number of heads, but the result of the
	merge is always the current branch head.  It is meant to
	be used to supersede old development history of side
	branches.


EXAMPLES
--------

git pull, git pull origin::
	Fetch the default head from the repository you cloned
	from and merge it into your current branch.

git pull -s ours . obsolete::
	Merge local branch `obsolete` into the current branch,
	using `ours` merge strategy.

git pull . fixes enhancements::
	Bundle local branch `fixes` and `enhancements` on top of
	the current branch, making an Octopus merge.

git pull --no-commit . maint::
	Merge local branch `maint` into the current branch, but
	do not make a commit automatically.  This can be used
	when you want to include further changes to the merge,
	or want to write your own merge commit message.
+
You should refrain from abusing this option to sneak substantial
changes into a merge commit.  Small fixups like bumping
release/version name would be acceptable.

Command line pull of multiple branches from one repository::
+
------------------------------------------------
$ cat .git/remotes/origin
URL: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git
Pull: master:origin

$ git checkout master
$ git fetch origin master:origin +pu:pu maint:maint
$ git pull . origin
------------------------------------------------
+
Here, a typical `$GIT_DIR/remotes/origin` file from a
`git-clone` operation is used in combination with
command line options to `git-fetch` to first update
multiple branches of the local repository and then
to merge the remote `origin` branch into the local
`master` branch.  The local `pu` branch is updated
even if it does not result in a fast forward update.
Here, the pull can obtain its objects from the local
repository using `.`, as the previous `git-fetch` is
known to have already obtained and made available
all the necessary objects.


Pull of multiple branches from one repository using `$GIT_DIR/remotes` file::
+
------------------------------------------------
$ cat .git/remotes/origin
URL: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git
Pull: master:origin
Pull: +pu:pu
Pull: maint:maint

$ git checkout master
$ git pull origin
------------------------------------------------
+
Here, a typical `$GIT_DIR/remotes/origin` file from a
`git-clone` operation has been hand-modified to include
the branch-mapping of additional remote and local
heads directly.  A single `git-pull` operation while
in the `master` branch will fetch multiple heads and
merge the remote `origin` head into the current,
local `master` branch.


SEE ALSO
--------
gitlink:git-fetch[1], gitlink:git-merge[1]


Author
------
Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
and Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>

Documentation
--------------
Documentation by Jon Loeliger,
David Greaves,
Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.

GIT
---
Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite