| <repository>:: |
| The "remote" repository that is the source of a fetch |
| or pull operation. This parameter can be either a URL |
| (see the section <<URLS,GIT URLS>> below) or the name |
| of a remote (see the section <<REMOTES,REMOTES>> below). |
| |
| ifndef::git-pull[] |
| <group>:: |
| A name referring to a list of repositories as the value |
| of remotes.<group> in the configuration file. |
| (See linkgit:git-config[1]). |
| endif::git-pull[] |
| |
| <refspec>:: |
| Specifies which refs to fetch and which local refs to update. |
| When no <refspec>s appear on the command line, the refs to fetch |
| are read from `remote.<repository>.fetch` variables instead |
| ifndef::git-pull[] |
| (see <<CRTB,CONFIGURED REMOTE-TRACKING BRANCHES>> below). |
| endif::git-pull[] |
| ifdef::git-pull[] |
| (see the section "CONFIGURED REMOTE-TRACKING BRANCHES" |
| in linkgit:git-fetch[1]). |
| endif::git-pull[] |
| + |
| The format of a <refspec> parameter is an optional plus |
| `+`, followed by the source <src>, followed |
| by a colon `:`, followed by the destination ref <dst>. |
| The colon can be omitted when <dst> is empty. <src> is |
| typically a ref, but it can also be a fully spelled hex object |
| name. |
| + |
| A <refspec> may contain a `*` in its <src> to indicate a simple pattern |
| match. Such a refspec functions like a glob that matches any ref with the |
| same prefix. A pattern <refspec> must have a `*` in both the <src> and |
| <dst>. It will map refs to the destination by replacing the `*` with the |
| contents matched from the source. |
| + |
| If a refspec is prefixed by `^`, it will be interpreted as a negative |
| refspec. Rather than specifying which refs to fetch or which local refs to |
| update, such a refspec will instead specify refs to exclude. A ref will be |
| considered to match if it matches at least one positive refspec, and does |
| not match any negative refspec. Negative refspecs can be useful to restrict |
| the scope of a pattern refspec so that it will not include specific refs. |
| Negative refspecs can themselves be pattern refspecs. However, they may only |
| contain a <src> and do not specify a <dst>. Fully spelled out hex object |
| names are also not supported. |
| + |
| `tag <tag>` means the same as `refs/tags/<tag>:refs/tags/<tag>`; |
| it requests fetching everything up to the given tag. |
| + |
| The remote ref that matches <src> |
| is fetched, and if <dst> is not an empty string, an attempt |
| is made to update the local ref that matches it. |
| + |
| Whether that update is allowed without `--force` depends on the ref |
| namespace it's being fetched to, the type of object being fetched, and |
| whether the update is considered to be a fast-forward. Generally, the |
| same rules apply for fetching as when pushing, see the `<refspec>...` |
| section of linkgit:git-push[1] for what those are. Exceptions to those |
| rules particular to 'git fetch' are noted below. |
| + |
| Until Git version 2.20, and unlike when pushing with |
| linkgit:git-push[1], any updates to `refs/tags/*` would be accepted |
| without `+` in the refspec (or `--force`). When fetching, we promiscuously |
| considered all tag updates from a remote to be forced fetches. Since |
| Git version 2.20, fetching to update `refs/tags/*` works the same way |
| as when pushing. I.e. any updates will be rejected without `+` in the |
| refspec (or `--force`). |
| + |
| Unlike when pushing with linkgit:git-push[1], any updates outside of |
| `refs/{tags,heads}/*` will be accepted without `+` in the refspec (or |
| `--force`), whether that's swapping e.g. a tree object for a blob, or |
| a commit for another commit that doesn't have the previous commit as |
| an ancestor etc. |
| + |
| Unlike when pushing with linkgit:git-push[1], there is no |
| configuration which'll amend these rules, and nothing like a |
| `pre-fetch` hook analogous to the `pre-receive` hook. |
| + |
| As with pushing with linkgit:git-push[1], all of the rules described |
| above about what's not allowed as an update can be overridden by |
| adding an optional leading `+` to a refspec (or using the `--force` |
| command line option). The only exception to this is that no amount of |
| forcing will make the `refs/heads/*` namespace accept a non-commit |
| object. |
| + |
| [NOTE] |
| When the remote branch you want to fetch is known to |
| be rewound and rebased regularly, it is expected that |
| its new tip will not be a descendant of its previous tip |
| (as stored in your remote-tracking branch the last time |
| you fetched). You would want |
| to use the `+` sign to indicate non-fast-forward updates |
| will be needed for such branches. There is no 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. |
| ifdef::git-pull[] |
| + |
| [NOTE] |
| There is a difference between listing multiple <refspec> |
| directly on 'git pull' command line and having multiple |
| `remote.<repository>.fetch` entries in your configuration |
| for a <repository> and running a |
| 'git pull' command without any explicit <refspec> parameters. |
| <refspec>s 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 ref, 'git pull' will create |
| an Octopus merge. On the other hand, if you do not list any |
| explicit <refspec> parameter on the command line, 'git pull' |
| will fetch all the <refspec>s it finds in the |
| `remote.<repository>.fetch` configuration and merge |
| only the first <refspec> found into the current branch. |
| 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. |
| endif::git-pull[] |