Fetching And Pulling | Introduction To Git

Understanding fetch and pull operations

Fetching and pulling are two essential operations in Git that allow you to retrieve updates from a remote repository. This guide explains the differences between fetch and pull operations, and how to use them effectively.

Key Points:

git fetch retrieves updates from the remote repository without merging them into your local branch.
git pull retrieves updates from the remote repository and merges them into your current branch.
Understanding when to use each command helps manage your workflow and avoid conflicts.

Fetching Changes

The git fetch command downloads updates from a remote repository to your local repository. These updates include new commits, branches, and tags, but they are not merged into your working branch. This allows you to review the changes before integrating them.


# Fetch updates from the remote repository
$ git fetch origin

After fetching, you can inspect the changes and decide how to integrate them into your local branch.

Inspecting Fetched Changes

After fetching updates, you can inspect the changes using the git log command with the FETCH_HEAD reference.


# View the fetched changes
$ git log FETCH_HEAD

This allows you to see the commits that were fetched from the remote repository.

Pulling Changes

The git pull command is a combination of git fetch and git merge. It retrieves updates from the remote repository and merges them into your current branch in one step.


# Pull updates and merge into the current branch
$ git pull origin main

This command ensures your local branch is up to date with the remote branch.

Using Pull with Rebase

Instead of merging, you can use the rebase option with git pull to apply your local changes on top of the fetched commits. This results in a linear history.


# Pull updates and rebase local changes on top
$ git pull --rebase origin main

Rebasing can make your project history cleaner and easier to follow.

Resolving Conflicts

Conflicts may occur during a pull operation if changes in the remote repository overlap with your local changes. Git will pause the pull process and mark the conflicted areas in the files, which you must resolve manually.


# Example of resolving conflicts during a pull
$ git pull origin main
# Resolve conflicts in the files
$ git add resolved-file.txt
$ git commit

Summary

This guide covered the differences between fetch and pull operations in Git, how to use them, and when to apply each. Fetching allows you to review changes before integrating them, while pulling directly merges updates into your current branch. Understanding these operations is essential for effective collaboration and maintaining a clean project history.

Git & GitHub - Fetching and Pulling