Re: [PATCH] checkout: add --fetch to fetch remote before resolving start-point
- From
- Marc Branchaud <marcnarc@gmail.com>
- Date
- Apr 24, 2026, 17:42 UTC
- Message-ID
- <42a620db-6110-4894-97fb-8e49ec577817@gmail.com>
- In-Reply-To
- <pull.2281.git.git.1777024991531.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
On 2026-04-24 04:03, Harald Nordgren via GitGitGadget wrote:
Show 7 quoted lines
> From: Harald Nordgren <haraldnordgren@gmail.com> > > Add a --fetch option to git checkout and git switch, plus a > checkout.autoFetch config to enable it by default. When set and the > start-point argument names a configured remote (either bare, like > "origin", or prefixed, like "origin/foo"), fetch that remote before > resolving the ref. Aborts the checkout if the fetch fails.
Why tie the behaviour to the nature of the start-point? That seems over-designed and prone to tripping people up. Are you trying to cater to users who have multiple remotes?
I can imagine people who just want to do a checkout of anything after fetching -- maybe they want to checkout a new tag, or some other detached HEAD, or just an already-existing local branch. They see that checkout has this nifty --fetch option so they think they can combine git fetch; git checkout into a single command ... but no, only if they checkout something in a remote's namespace.
I don't personally feel the need for this new option, but I think you'll have a much easier time implementing and maintaining it if you just make --fetch do a plain fetch without caring about what the starting-point is.
M.
Show 214 quoted lines
> Signed-off-by: Harald Nordgren <haraldnordgren@gmail.com>
> ---
> checkout: add --fetch to fetch remote before resolving start-point
>
> A workflow I run several times a day looks like:
>
> git fetch origin
> git checkout -b new_branch origin/some-branch
>
>
> The first command exists purely to make the second one see an up-to-date
> view of the remote. If I forget it, origin/some-branch points at a stale
> commit, and I end up creating a local branch from the wrong starting
> point.
>
> This series teaches git checkout (and git switch) a new --fetch flag
> that folds the two steps into one:
>
> git checkout --fetch -b new_branch origin/some-branch
>
>
> When the start-point argument names a configured remote — either bare
> (origin, which resolves to the remote's default branch) or in / form —
> git fetch is run before the start-point is resolved. If the fetch fails,
> the checkout aborts and no local branch is created.
>
> A new checkout.autoFetch config option enables the same behavior by
> default, for users who always want it.
>
> Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-git-2281%2FHaraldNordgren%2Fcheckout-fetch-start-point-v1
> Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-git-2281/HaraldNordgren/checkout-fetch-start-point-v1
> Pull-Request: https://github.com/git/git/pull/2281
>
> builtin/checkout.c | 48 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
> t/t7201-co.sh | 51 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> t/t9902-completion.sh | 1 +
> 3 files changed, 98 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/builtin/checkout.c b/builtin/checkout.c
> index e031e61886..c8fbc4923b 100644
> --- a/builtin/checkout.c
> +++ b/builtin/checkout.c
> @@ -30,7 +30,9 @@
> #include "repo-settings.h"
> #include "resolve-undo.h"
> #include "revision.h"
> +#include "run-command.h"
> #include "setup.h"
> +#include "strvec.h"
> #include "submodule.h"
> #include "symlinks.h"
> #include "trace2.h"
> @@ -61,6 +63,7 @@ struct checkout_opts {
> int count_checkout_paths;
> int overlay_mode;
> int dwim_new_local_branch;
> + int auto_fetch;
> int discard_changes;
> int accept_ref;
> int accept_pathspec;
> @@ -112,6 +115,34 @@ struct branch_info {
> char *checkout;
> };
>
> +static void fetch_remote_for_start_point(const char *arg)
> +{
> + const char *slash;
> + char *remote_name;
> + struct remote *remote;
> + struct child_process cmd = CHILD_PROCESS_INIT;
> +
> + if (!arg || !*arg)
> + return;
> +
> + slash = strchr(arg, '/');
> + if (slash == arg)
> + return;
> + remote_name = slash ? xstrndup(arg, slash - arg) : xstrdup(arg);
> +
> + remote = remote_get(remote_name);
> + if (!remote || !remote_is_configured(remote, 1)) {
> + free(remote_name);
> + return;
> + }
> +
> + strvec_pushl(&cmd.args, "fetch", remote_name, NULL);
> + cmd.git_cmd = 1;
> + free(remote_name);
> + if (run_command(&cmd))
> + die(_("failed to fetch start-point '%s'"), arg);
> +}
> +
> static void branch_info_release(struct branch_info *info)
> {
> free(info->name);
> @@ -1237,6 +1268,10 @@ static int git_checkout_config(const char *var, const char *value,
> opts->dwim_new_local_branch = git_config_bool(var, value);
> return 0;
> }
> + if (!strcmp(var, "checkout.autofetch")) {
> + opts->auto_fetch = git_config_bool(var, value);
> + return 0;
> + }
>
> if (starts_with(var, "submodule."))
> return git_default_submodule_config(var, value, NULL);
> @@ -1942,8 +1977,13 @@ static int checkout_main(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix,
> opts->dwim_new_local_branch &&
> opts->track == BRANCH_TRACK_UNSPECIFIED &&
> !opts->new_branch;
> - int n = parse_branchname_arg(argc, argv, dwim_ok, which_command,
> - &new_branch_info, opts, &rev);
> + int n;
> +
> + if (opts->auto_fetch)
> + fetch_remote_for_start_point(argv[0]);
> +
> + n = parse_branchname_arg(argc, argv, dwim_ok, which_command,
> + &new_branch_info, opts, &rev);
> argv += n;
> argc -= n;
> } else if (!opts->accept_ref && opts->from_treeish) {
> @@ -2052,6 +2092,8 @@ int cmd_checkout(int argc,
> OPT_BOOL(0, "overlay", &opts.overlay_mode, N_("use overlay mode (default)")),
> OPT_BOOL(0, "auto-advance", &opts.auto_advance,
> N_("auto advance to the next file when selecting hunks interactively")),
> + OPT_BOOL(0, "fetch", &opts.auto_fetch,
> + N_("fetch from the remote first if <start-point> is a remote-tracking ref")),
> OPT_END()
> };
>
> @@ -2102,6 +2144,8 @@ int cmd_switch(int argc,
> N_("second guess 'git switch <no-such-branch>'")),
> OPT_BOOL(0, "discard-changes", &opts.discard_changes,
> N_("throw away local modifications")),
> + OPT_BOOL(0, "fetch", &opts.auto_fetch,
> + N_("fetch from the remote first if <start-point> is a remote-tracking ref")),
> OPT_END()
> };
>
> diff --git a/t/t7201-co.sh b/t/t7201-co.sh
> index 9bcf7c0b40..60ddebd9c3 100755
> --- a/t/t7201-co.sh
> +++ b/t/t7201-co.sh
> @@ -801,4 +801,55 @@ test_expect_success 'tracking info copied with autoSetupMerge=inherit' '
> test_cmp_config "" --default "" branch.main2.merge
> '
>
> +test_expect_success 'setup upstream for --fetch tests' '
> + git checkout main &&
> + git init fetch_upstream &&
> + test_commit -C fetch_upstream u_main &&
> + git remote add fetch_upstream fetch_upstream &&
> + git fetch fetch_upstream &&
> + git -C fetch_upstream checkout -b fetch_new &&
> + test_commit -C fetch_upstream u_new
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success 'checkout --fetch -b picks up branch created upstream after clone' '
> + git checkout main &&
> + test_must_fail git rev-parse --verify refs/remotes/fetch_upstream/fetch_new &&
> + git checkout --fetch -b local_new fetch_upstream/fetch_new &&
> + test_cmp_rev refs/remotes/fetch_upstream/fetch_new HEAD
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success 'checkout --fetch with bare remote name fetches the remote' '
> + git checkout main &&
> + git -C fetch_upstream checkout -b fetch_new2 &&
> + test_commit -C fetch_upstream u_new2 &&
> + test_must_fail git rev-parse --verify refs/remotes/fetch_upstream/fetch_new2 &&
> + git checkout --fetch -b local_from_remote fetch_upstream &&
> + git rev-parse --verify refs/remotes/fetch_upstream/fetch_new2
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success 'checkout --fetch aborts and does not create branch on fetch failure' '
> + git checkout main &&
> + test_might_fail git branch -D bogus &&
> + test_must_fail git checkout --fetch -b bogus fetch_upstream/does_not_exist &&
> + test_must_fail git rev-parse --verify refs/heads/bogus
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success 'checkout.autoFetch=true enables fetching without --fetch' '
> + git checkout main &&
> + git -C fetch_upstream checkout -b fetch_cfg &&
> + test_commit -C fetch_upstream u_cfg &&
> + test_must_fail git rev-parse --verify refs/remotes/fetch_upstream/fetch_cfg &&
> + git -c checkout.autoFetch=true checkout -b local_cfg fetch_upstream/fetch_cfg &&
> + test_cmp_rev refs/remotes/fetch_upstream/fetch_cfg HEAD
> +'
> +
> +test_expect_success 'switch --fetch -c picks up branch created upstream after clone' '
> + git checkout main &&
> + git -C fetch_upstream checkout -b fetch_switch &&
> + test_commit -C fetch_upstream u_switch &&
> + test_must_fail git rev-parse --verify refs/remotes/fetch_upstream/fetch_switch &&
> + git switch --fetch -c local_switch fetch_upstream/fetch_switch &&
> + test_cmp_rev refs/remotes/fetch_upstream/fetch_switch HEAD
> +'
> +
> test_done
> diff --git a/t/t9902-completion.sh b/t/t9902-completion.sh
> index 2f9a597ec7..dc1d63669f 100755
> --- a/t/t9902-completion.sh
> +++ b/t/t9902-completion.sh
> @@ -2602,6 +2602,7 @@ test_expect_success 'double dash "git checkout"' '
> --ignore-other-worktrees Z
> --recurse-submodules Z
> --auto-advance Z
> + --fetch Z
> --progress Z
> --guess Z
> --no-guess Z
>
> base-commit: 94f057755b7941b321fd11fec1b2e3ca5313a4e0