Re: [PATCH v6] checkout: extend --track with a "fetch" mode to refresh start-point

Hi Harald

On 07/05/2026 21:12, Harald Nordgren wrote:

I'm not particularly enthusiastic one way or the other about adding this, but so long as we only try to fetch when the user explicitly asks for it I don't particularly object. However having had a quick scan of the implementation I have a few comments

* "--track=inherit,direct" is nonsense and should be rejected

* currently "--track" has "last one wins" behavior so
   "--track=inherit --track=direct" behaves like "--track=direct". We
   should probably keep that so that "--track=fetch --track=direct"
   behaves like "--track=direct", not "--track=fetch,direct"

* if "git fetch" fails and the remote tracking ref already exists then
   we should print a warning and carry on rather than dying which is more
   convenient if the user or remote server are offline.

* "git checkout --track=fetch origin/branch" should respect
   remote.origin.fetch so that we fetch the ref that we're going to
   checkout. I wonder if we can share this logic with the code that
   sets the upstream branch.

* "git checkout --track=fetch origin" should only fetch the remote
   ref that we're going to checkout, not all the refs from origin. i.e.
   it should read origin/HEAD to work out what to fetch.

Thanks

Phillip