Working with Remote Branches

Command	Result
git checkout --track origin/branch	creates and checks out a local tracking branch for the specified remote branch
git fetch origin	fetches the remote repository and stores it locally, but does not merge it with the current branch
git pull	fetches and merges the remote repository with the local repository
git pull origin branch	fetches and merges the specified remote branch with the current local branch
git push	pushes all committed changes on all branches to the remote repo
git push -f	force pushes all committed changes on all branches to the remote repo. Warning: this can overwrite commits on the remote branches.
git push origin +branch	force pushes committed changes on the specified branch. Warning: this can overwrite commits on the remote branch.
git push origin branch1:branch2	creates a remote branch2 and pushes the local branch1 to it
git push origin :branch	deletes the specified remote branch (note there is a space between origin and :branch)
git reset --hard origin/branch	resets the checked-out local branch to the status of the specified remote branch; running git fetch origin first is recommended

Configuring an upstream remote for a fork

1. List the current configured remote repository for your fork:

   $ git remote -v
   origin  git@github.com:YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (fetch)
   origin  git@github.com:YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (push)
   

2. Specify a new remote upstream repository that will be synced with the fork:

   $ git remote add upstream git@github.com:ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git
   

3. Verify the new upstream repository you've specified for your fork:

   $ git remote -v
   origin    git@github.com:YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (fetch)
   origin    git@github.com:YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (push)
   upstream  git@github.com:ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git (fetch)
   upstream  git@github.com:ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git (push)
   

Updating a fork from upstream

While on your master branch, use the following commands to update your remote fork from the remote upstream:

git fetch upstream
git merge upstream/master
git push origin master

Adding commits to a pull request

Use the following formula to add commits to another person's pull request. The other person must have allow edits from maintainers enabled for the branch.

git push git@github.com:<user>/<repo> <local_branch_name>:<remote_branch_name>

Troubleshooting

To reset origin remote to upstream remote, run the following commands:

git remote update
git reset --hard upstream/master --
git push origin +master

The double hyphen ensures that upstream/master is considered as a revision and not confused as a path.