Re: [Question] Fetching a new branch from remote

> Carl Baldwin <cnb@fc.hp.com> writes:
> 
> > I would expect this to do it:
> >
> > % git fetch -f <url> new-branch
> >
> > But, it doesn't.
> >
> > Actually, I just noticed that this accomplishes the desired result...
> >
> > % git fetch <url> new-branch:new-branch
> 
> First, '-f' means "allow overriding the fast-forward check when
> updating an existing branch".  This can be done per refspec by
> saying "+rbranch:lbranch" but if you are fetching more than one
> remote branches at once (especially through "remotes" shorthand)
> the option can be used to allow override of all of them.
> 
> A single token <refspec> defaults to "<refspec>:" (meaning,
> "fetch but do not muck with our branches") is deliberate.  When
> I get a pull request "please pull from git://u/r/l/ send2junio branch",
> I do not "git pull git://u/r/l/ send2junio" right away, but do
> "git fetch git://u/r/l/ send2junio" and inspect FETCH_HEAD with
> various combinations of "git diff master..FETCH_HEAD" and
> friends.  I do _not_ want it to create send2junio branch in my
> repository with that.  Also "git pull git://u/r/l/ send2junio"
> would internally run "git fetch git://u/r/l/ send2junio" and
> then runs merge, and I do not want that to create send2junio
> branch in my repository either.  The latter could be prevented by
> adding an extra flag to git-fetch to tell it not to default
> a single token <refspec> to "<refspec>:<refspec>" and pass that
> flag from git-pull, though.
> 
> I just found out that the documentation for '-f' flag is simply
> missing.  I'd propose to add the following.  Thanks for noticing.
> 
> -- >8 --
> diff --git a/Documentation/fetch-options.txt b/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
> index a25d04a..200c9b2 100644
> --- a/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
> @@ -4,6 +4,11 @@
>  	option old data in `.git/FETCH_HEAD` will be overwritten.
>  
>  -f, \--force::
> +	When `git-fetch` is used with `<rbranch>:<lbranch>`
> +	refspec, it refuses to update the local branch
> +	`<lbranch>` unless the remote branch `<rbranch>` it
> +	fetches is a descendant of `<lbranch>`.  This option
> +	overrides that check.
>  
>  -t, \--tags::
>  	By default, the git core utilities will not fetch and store
> 
>