Re: basics... when reading docs doesn't help

> 
> You need to mark "refs/heads/origin" as always following the remote 
> "master", even if it gets re-based.  You do that by adding a "+" before 
> the refspec that describes the remote.
> 
> These days, with git-1.5.x, "git clone" will do that for you (and make the 
> remotes fall under "refs/remotes/origin/*" instead - they're considered 
> separate branches from the local branches these days). However, since you 
> created the repository with an older git version, it still uses the 
> original format (and even though you upgraded your git binary, it will use 
> the old-fashioned branch format for remote branches and for 
> configuration).
> 
> So in your case, the remote is probably described by the 
> .git/remotes/origin file, and it looks something like
> 
> 	URL: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/paulus/powerpc
> 	Pull: master:origin
> 
> and you should just change that "Pull:" line to have a "+" in front of the 
> refspec:
> 
> 	URL: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/paulus/powerpc
> 	Pull: +master:origin
> 
> which tells git that the remote "master" branch should now 
> *unconditionally* be followed into the local "origin" branch when you 
> pull.
> 
> (In a more modern setup, you wouldn't have a .git/remotes/origin file at 
> all, insead you would have something like this in the .git/config file:
> 
> 	[remote "origin"]
> 		url = git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/paulus/powerpc
> 		fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
> 
> 	[branch "master"]
> 		remote = origin
> 		merge = refs/heads/master
> 
> which means that there is a remote called "origin", and all of the remote 
> heads in that remote ("refs/heads/*") will be fetched into the local 
> repository under "refs/remotes/origin/*". And the "+" again means that we 
> do this even if it's not a fast-forward, ie we trust the remote 
> explicitly.
> 
> So "git fetch origin" will fetch *all* branches from "origin" into your 
> local repository, but to distinguish them from your *own* branches, they 
> will be under .git/refs/remotes/ instead of your "real" local branches 
> that are in ".git/refs/heads/. So you can now see the difference between 
> your *local* version of a branch X and the remote version of that same 
> branch by using "X" and "remotes/origin/X" respectively to describe that 
> branch.
> 
> Then, the second part of the above config file means that when you're on 
> the local "master" branch and do a "git pull", it will fetch it from the 
> remote "origin", and merge the remote "refs/heads/master" branch from that 
> remote (the same one that will be fetched into refs/remotes/origin/master 
> by a "git fetch".
> 
> Yeah, this is all a bit complex, and it takes a while to wrap your head 
> around it, but I have to say, once you do, the git-1.5.x layout really 
> *is* very powerful, and it's actually very natural too (but the "very 
> natural" part only comes after you have that "Aaahh!" moment!)