# pushing to a remote branch that one does not own

4 messages from 2011-01-19 to 2011-01-19. Participants: iani, Maaartin, Alexey Shumkin.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/26306

## iani, 2011-01-19 18:16

Subject: pushing to a remote branch that one does not own
Message-ID: <1295461011273-5940751.post@n2.nabble.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/1295461011273-5940751.post%40n2.nabble.com

```

Hello, 
I want to contribute via "push" to a branch which I have previously cloned
from a remote repository. There is a problem: 

If i create a new commit on branch "master", which coincides with
origin/master, then I can push this commit simply with
    git push
However, if i switch to a different branch of the repository which was
cloned, for example by doing:
    git checkout origin/lilt 
Then I get the message: 
"You are in 'detached HEAD' state. You can look around, make experimental
... (etc)"
So I HAVE to create my own new branch based on the one downloaded in order
to start committing and pushing changes. My question is therefore: 

Am I strictly limited to committing only on the master / origin/master
branched, and forced to make a new branch for every branch that I cloned
from the remote repo, or is there a way of making the heads of the remote
branches visible as local too? 

Thanks, 

Iannis Zannos


-- 
View this message in context: http://git.661346.n2.nabble.com/pushing-to-a-remote-branch-that-one-does-not-own-tp5940751p5940751.html
Sent from the git mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

```

## Maaartin, 2011-01-19 19:25

Subject: Re: pushing to a remote branch that one does not own
Message-ID: <4D373AA2.7000501@seznam.cz>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/4D373AA2.7000501%40seznam.cz
In-Reply-To: <1295461011273-5940751.post@n2.nabble.com>

```
On 11-01-19 19:16, iani wrote:
>
> Hello,
> I want to contribute via "push" to a branch which I have previously cloned
> from a remote repository. There is a problem:
>
> If i create a new commit on branch "master", which coincides with
> origin/master, then I can push this commit simply with
>     git push
> However, if i switch to a different branch of the repository which was
> cloned, for example by doing:
>     git checkout origin/lilt
> Then I get the message:
> "You are in 'detached HEAD' state. You can look around, make experimental
> ... (etc)"
> So I HAVE to create my own new branch based on the one downloaded in order
> to start committing and pushing changes. My question is therefore:
>
> Am I strictly limited to committing only on the master / origin/master

AFAIK, there's nothing special about origin, except that it's already
set up to track origin/master.

You can't commit to origin/lilt just like you can't commit to
origin/master. Those remote branches are there to mirror corresponding
branches in the remote repo, so you can do things like
git diff master origin/master

> branched, and forced to make a new branch for every branch that I cloned
> from the remote repo, or is there a way of making the heads of the remote
> branches visible as local too?

AFAIK, using
git branch lilt origin/lilt
you create a local branch tracking the remote one. Then you can work
with it just like you work with master. You may want to have a look at
.git/config for [branch <branchname>] sections or not. I'm quite a
newbie, but this works for me.

```

## Alexey Shumkin, 2011-01-19 19:56

Subject: Re: pushing to a remote branch that one does not own
Message-ID: <loom.20110119T205035-308@post.gmane.org>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/loom.20110119T205035-308%40post.gmane.org
In-Reply-To: <1295461011273-5940751.post@n2.nabble.com>

```
> Am I strictly limited to committing only on the master / origin/master
> branched, and forced to make a new branch for every branch that I cloned
> from the remote repo, or is there a way of making the heads of the remote
> branches visible as local too? 
> 
> Thanks, 
> 
> Iannis Zannos
> 

Maybe you should read "Pro Git" book chapter 3 "Git Branching"
http://progit.org/book/ch3-0.html
(and look forward for chapter 3.5 "Remote Branches")?

```

## iani, 2011-01-19 22:28

Subject: Re: pushing to a remote branch that one does not own
Message-ID: <1295476119964-5941621.post@n2.nabble.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/1295476119964-5941621.post%40n2.nabble.com
In-Reply-To: <4D373AA2.7000501@seznam.cz>

```

Thanks a lot for the prompt answer. Following your advice I read the progit
online chapter about branches and it explained to me about git branch lilt
origin/lilt as Maaartin explains. So I am testing it now. 

Thanks
Iannis Z.
-- 
View this message in context: http://git.661346.n2.nabble.com/pushing-to-a-remote-branch-that-one-does-not-own-tp5940751p5941621.html
Sent from the git mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

```