The current description in the pull man page does not say much more than that “git pull” is fetch + merge. Though that is all a person needs to know in the end, it would be useful to summarize a bit about what those commands do for new readers. Most of this description is taken from the “git merge” docs. Now that we explain how to back out of a failed merge (reset --merge), we can tone down the warning against that a bit. Except, as Thomas noticed, there’s a risk with that because people might read this version of the manpage online and then conclude that it is safe to try a merge with uncommitted changes, only to find that their “git reset” doesn't support --merge yet. Or worse, verify that their git-reset has --merge by a quick test (1b5b465 is in 1.6.2) but then find that it does not help with backing out of a merge (e11d7b5 is only in 1.7.0!). So keep the warning. With clarifications from Ævar, Thomas, and Junio. Noticed-by: Geoff Russell <geoffrey.russell@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@xxxxxxxxx> Cc: Thomas Rast <trast@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@xxxxxxxxx> --- Junio C Hamano wrote: > I think the longer "In git 1.7.0 or later" with "Warning: in olden days" > can appear in everybody's version without causing any harm. That way, it > is shown even to somebody who came to docs/v1.7.3/git-pull.html at k.org > from sideways. Ok. Here’s what it looks like with that change. Documentation/git-pull.txt | 65 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------- 1 files changed, 54 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/git-pull.txt b/Documentation/git-pull.txt index ab4de10..7e72961 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-pull.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-pull.txt @@ -8,29 +8,72 @@ git-pull - Fetch from and merge with another repository or a local branch SYNOPSIS -------- -'git pull' <options> <repository> <refspec>... +'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. -With `--rebase`, calls 'git rebase' instead of 'git merge'. -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. +Incorporates changes from a remote repository into the current +branch. In its default mode, `git pull` is shorthand for +`git fetch` followed by `git merge FETCH_HEAD`. -Also note that options meant for 'git pull' itself and underlying -'git merge' must be given before the options meant for 'git fetch'. +More precisely, 'git pull' runs 'git fetch' with the given +parameters and calls 'git merge' to merge the retrieved branch +heads into the current branch. +With `--rebase`, it runs 'git rebase' instead of 'git merge'. -*Warning*: Running 'git pull' (actually, the underlying 'git merge') +<repository> should be the name of a remote repository as +passed to linkgit:git-fetch[1]. <refspec> can name an +arbitrary remote ref (for example, the name of a tag) or even +a collection of refs with corresponding remote tracking branches +(e.g., refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*), but usually it is +the name of a branch in the remote repository. + +Default values for <repository> and <branch> are read from the +"remote" and "merge" configuration for the current branch +as set by linkgit:git-branch[1] `--track`. + +Assume the following history exists and the current branch is +"`master`": + +------------ + A---B---C master on origin + / + D---E---F---G master +------------ + +Then "`git pull`" will fetch and replay the changes from the remote +`master` branch since it diverged from the local `master` (i.e., `E`) +until its current commit (`C`) on top of `master` and record the +result in a new commit along with the names of the two parent commits +and a log message from the user describing the changes. + +------------ + A---B---C remotes/origin/master + / \ + D---E---F---G---H master +------------ + +See linkgit:git-merge[1] for details, including how conflicts +are presented and handled. + +In git 1.7.0 or later, to cancel a conflicting merge, use +`git reset --merge`. *Warning*: In older versions of git, running 'git pull' with uncommitted changes is discouraged: while possible, it leaves you -in a state that is hard to back out of in the case of a conflict. +in a state that may be hard to back out of in the case of a conflict. + +If any of the remote changes overlap with local uncommitted changes, +the merge will be automatically cancelled and the work tree untouched. +It is generally best to get any local changes in working order before +pulling or stash them away with linkgit:git-stash[1]. OPTIONS ------- +Options meant for 'git pull' itself and the underlying 'git merge' +must be given before the options meant for 'git fetch'. + -q:: --quiet:: This is passed to both underlying git-fetch to squelch reporting of -- 1.7.2.1.544.ga752d.dirty -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html