Git fetch remote branch

Question

My colleague and I are working on the same repository we've branched it into two branches each technically for different projects, but they have similarities so we'll sometimes want to commit back to the *master from the branch.

However, I have a branch. My question is, how can my colleague pull that branch specifically?

A git clone of the repo does not seem to create the branches locally for him, though I can see them live on unfuddle after a push on my end.

Also, when I originally made the branch I did -b checkout. Not sure if that makes much difference?

$ git branch -r

origin/HEAD -> origin/master

origin/daves_branch

origin/discover

origin/master

$ git fetch origin discover

$ git checkout discover

These are the commands I ran. But it definitely is not working.

I want to be able to check out that branch and then push and commit back just the branches changes from various collaborators or workstations.

Answer 1

You need to create a local branch that tracks a remote branch. The following command will create a local branch and tracks the remote branch when you push your changes, the remote branch will be updated.

For most recent versions of git:

git checkout --track origin/[branch]

--track is shorthand for git checkout -b [branch] [remotename]/[branch]

For git version-1.5.6.5

git checkout --track -b [local_branch] origin/[branch]

For git version-1.7.2.3 

 git checkout [local_branch]

Note:

With recent git versions, this command will not create a local branch and will put you in a 'detached HEAD' state. If you want a local branch, use the --track option.

Comments

Before using --track option run git fetch command so that your repo is updated with the remote then you can commit and update to the remote.