git - checking out remote branches

2019-04-27

~3 min read

540 words

Update: I kept using this approach and recently found an even simpler way to checkout remote branches. $ git checkout -t $(git branch -a | grep <target-branch

I wrote more about it in Git - Checking Out Remote Branches, Revisted

Earlier this week, I pulled down a colleague’s work to test it locally. Unfortunately, the steps I followed ended up merging the new feature branch into my local master - unbeknownst to me. Then, when I pushed my work up for review, suddenly, I was carrying along all of his work too (since I merged my local master in to make sure I handled conflicts).

So, if you want to run a feature branch locally, how exactly do you pull a branch from a remote repository without merging it into an existing local branch?

StackOverflow to the rescue!¹

Git Commands

With A Single Remote Repository

As of Git version ^1.6.6

git fetch
git checkout test

Multiple Remote Repositories / Extra Explicit Approach

$ git checkout -b test <name of remote>/test
# or the shorthand
$ git checkout -t <name of remote>/test

Examples

git checkout -b feature/123-do-something-awesome origin/feature/123-do-something-awesome
git checkout -t origin/feature/123-do-something-awesome

Manual Definitions

I often find it helpful to look up what these flags and options are doing — in this particular case, we’re taking advantage of the -b and -t flags.

Before looking this process up, I wasn’t aware that -b took an optional second parameter, <start point> which in our case is the remote/branch-name.

The -t option works similarly, but we only specify the upstream and allowing Git to derive the branch name.

If no -b option is given, the name of the new branch will be derived from the remote-tracking branch

git checkout -b|-B <new_branch> [<start point>]
           Specifying -b causes a new branch to be created as if git-branch(1)
           were called and then checked out. In this case you can use the
           --track or --no-track options, which will be passed to git branch.
           As a convenience, --track without -b implies branch creation; see
           the description of --track below.

           If -B is given, <new_branch> is created if it doesn't exist;
           otherwise, it is reset. This is the transactional equivalent of

               $ git branch -f <branch> [<start point>]
               $ git checkout <branch>

           that is to say, the branch is not reset/created unless "git
           checkout" is successful.
...
-t, --track
           When creating a new branch, set up "upstream" configuration. See
           "--track" in git-branch(1) for details.

           If no -b option is given, the name of the new branch will be
           derived from the remote-tracking branch, by looking at the local
           part of the refspec configured for the corresponding remote, and
           then stripping the initial part up to the "*". This would tell us
           to use "hack" as the local branch when branching off of
           "origin/hack" (or "remotes/origin/hack", or even
           "refs/remotes/origin/hack"). If the given name has no slash, or the
           above guessing results in an empty name, the guessing is aborted.
           You can explicitly give a name with -b in such a case.

Footnotes

¹ git checkout - How do I check out a remote Git branch? - Stack Overflow

Git: Adding Remotes

Git - Checking Out Remote Branches, Revisited

Hi there and thanks for reading! My name's Stephen. I live in Chicago with my wife, Kate, and dog, Finn. Want more? See about and get in touch!