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Git - The Refspec
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<tr><td><a href="/book/az/v2/Git%e2%80%99in-Daxili-%c4%b0%c5%9fl%c9%99ri-Refspec">azərbaycan dili</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/bg/v2/%d0%9f%d1%80%d0%b8%d0%bb%d0%be%d0%b6%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%b8%d0%b5-B:-%d0%92%d0%b3%d1%80%d0%b0%d0%b6%d0%b4%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%b5-%d0%bd%d0%b0-Git-%d0%b2-%d0%bf%d1%80%d0%b8%d0%bb%d0%be%d0%b6%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%b8%d1%8f-Dulwich">български език</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/de/v2/Git-Interna-Die-Referenzspezifikation-engl-Refspec">Deutsch</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/es/v2/Los-entresijos-internos-de-Git-Las-especificaciones-para-hacer-referencia-a%e2%80%a6%e2%80%8b-refspec">Español</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/fr/v2/Les-tripes-de-Git-La-refspec">Français</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/gr">Ελληνικά</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/ja/v2/Git%e3%81%ae%e5%86%85%e5%81%b4-Refspec">日本語</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/ko/v2/Git%ec%9d%98-%eb%82%b4%eb%b6%80-Refspec">한국어</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/nl/v2/Git-Binnenwerk-De-Refspec">Nederlands</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/ru/v2/Git-%d0%b8%d0%b7%d0%bd%d1%83%d1%82%d1%80%d0%b8-%d0%a1%d0%bf%d0%b5%d1%86%d0%b8%d1%84%d0%b8%d0%ba%d0%b0%d1%86%d0%b8%d0%b8-%d1%81%d1%81%d1%8b%d0%bb%d0%be%d0%ba">Русский</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/sl/v2/Notranjost-Gita-Refspec">Slovenščina</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/tl/v2/Mga-Panloob-ng-GIT-Ang-Refspec">Tagalog</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/uk/v2/Git-%d0%b7%d1%81%d0%b5%d1%80%d0%b5%d0%b4%d0%b8%d0%bd%d0%b8-%d0%a1%d0%bf%d0%b5%d1%86%d0%b8%d1%84%d1%96%d0%ba%d0%b0%d1%86%d1%96%d1%8f-%d0%bf%d0%be%d1%81%d0%b8%d0%bb%d0%b0%d0%bd%d1%8c-refspec">Українська</a></td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/zh/v2/Git-%e5%86%85%e9%83%a8%e5%8e%9f%e7%90%86-%e5%bc%95%e7%94%a8%e8%a7%84%e8%8c%83">简体中文</a>,</td></tr> </table> </p> <p> Partial translations available in <table> <tr><td><a href="/book/cs/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec">Čeština</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/mk/v2/%d0%92%d0%bd%d0%b0%d1%82%d1%80%d0%b5%d1%88%d0%bd%d0%be%d1%81%d1%82%d0%b0-%d0%bd%d0%b0-Git-The-Refspec">Македонски</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/pl/v2/Mechanizmy-wewn%c4%99trzne-w-Git-Refspec">Polski</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/sr/v2/%d0%93%d0%b8%d1%82-%d0%b8%d0%b7%d0%bd%d1%83%d1%82%d1%80%d0%b0-%d0%a0%d0%b5%d1%84%d1%81%d0%bf%d0%b5%d0%ba">Српски</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/uz/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec">Ўзбекча</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/zh-tw/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec">繁體中文</a>,</td></tr> </table> </p> <p> Translations started for <table> <tr><td><a href="/book/be/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec">Беларуская</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/fa/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec" dir="rtl">فارسی</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/id/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec">Indonesian</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/it/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec">Italiano</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec">Bahasa Melayu</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/pt-br/v2/Funcionamento-Interno-do-Git-The-Refspec">Português (Brasil)</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/pt-pt/v2/Internos-do-Git-The-Refspec">Português (Portugal)</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/sv/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec">Svenska</a>,</td></tr> <tr><td><a href="/book/tr/v2/Dahili-Git-%c3%96geleri-Refspec">Türkçe</a>.</td></tr> </table> </p> <hr class="sidebar"/> <p> The source of this book is <a href="https://github.com/progit2-ms/progit2">hosted on GitHub.</a></br> Patches, suggestions and comments are welcome. </p> </nav> </aside> <div id="content"> <div id="book-chapters"> <a class="dropdown-trigger" id="book-chapters-trigger" data-panel-id="chapters-dropdown" href="#">Chapters ▾</a> <div class='dropdown-panel' id='chapters-dropdown'> <div class='three-column'> <div class="column-left"> <ol class='book-toc'> <li class='chapter'> <h2>1. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Getting-Started-About-Version-Control">Getting Started</a></h2> <ol> <li> 1.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Getting-Started-About-Version-Control">About Version Control</a> </li> <li> 1.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Getting-Started-A-Short-History-of-Git">A Short History of Git</a> </li> <li> 1.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Getting-Started-What-is-Git%3F">What is Git?</a> </li> <li> 1.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Getting-Started-The-Command-Line">The Command Line</a> </li> <li> 1.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Getting-Started-Installing-Git">Installing Git</a> </li> <li> 1.6 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Getting-Started-First-Time-Git-Setup">First-Time Git Setup</a> </li> <li> 1.7 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Getting-Started-Getting-Help">Getting Help</a> </li> <li> 1.8 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Getting-Started-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> <li class='chapter'> <h2>2. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Basics-Getting-a-Git-Repository">Git Basics</a></h2> <ol> <li> 2.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Basics-Getting-a-Git-Repository">Getting a Git Repository</a> </li> <li> 2.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Basics-Recording-Changes-to-the-Repository">Recording Changes to the Repository</a> </li> <li> 2.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Basics-Viewing-the-Commit-History">Viewing the Commit History</a> </li> <li> 2.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Basics-Undoing-Things">Undoing Things</a> </li> <li> 2.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Basics-Working-with-Remotes">Working with Remotes</a> </li> <li> 2.6 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Basics-Tagging">Tagging</a> </li> <li> 2.7 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Basics-Git-Aliases">Git Aliases</a> </li> <li> 2.8 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Basics-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> <li class='chapter'> <h2>3. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Branching-Branches-in-a-Nutshell">Git Branching</a></h2> <ol> <li> 3.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Branching-Branches-in-a-Nutshell">Branches in a Nutshell</a> </li> <li> 3.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Branching-Basic-Branching-and-Merging">Basic Branching and Merging</a> </li> <li> 3.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Branching-Branch-Management">Branch Management</a> </li> <li> 3.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Branching-Branching-Workflows">Branching Workflows</a> </li> <li> 3.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Branching-Remote-Branches">Remote Branches</a> </li> <li> 3.6 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Branching-Rebasing">Rebasing</a> </li> <li> 3.7 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Branching-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> <li class='chapter'> <h2>4. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-The-Protocols">Git on the Server</a></h2> <ol> <li> 4.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-The-Protocols">The Protocols</a> </li> <li> 4.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Getting-Git-on-a-Server">Getting Git on a Server</a> </li> <li> 4.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Generating-Your-SSH-Public-Key">Generating Your SSH Public Key</a> </li> <li> 4.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Setting-Up-the-Server">Setting Up the Server</a> </li> <li> 4.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Git-Daemon">Git Daemon</a> </li> <li> 4.6 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Smart-HTTP">Smart HTTP</a> </li> <li> 4.7 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-GitWeb">GitWeb</a> </li> <li> 4.8 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-GitLab">GitLab</a> </li> <li> 4.9 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Third-Party-Hosted-Options">Third Party Hosted Options</a> </li> <li> 4.10 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-on-the-Server-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> <li class='chapter'> <h2>5. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Distributed-Git-Distributed-Workflows">Distributed Git</a></h2> <ol> <li> 5.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Distributed-Git-Distributed-Workflows">Distributed Workflows</a> </li> <li> 5.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Distributed-Git-Contributing-to-a-Project">Contributing to a Project</a> </li> <li> 5.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Distributed-Git-Maintaining-a-Project">Maintaining a Project</a> </li> <li> 5.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Distributed-Git-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </div> <div class='column-middle'> <ol class='book-toc'> <li class='chapter'> <h2>6. <a href="/book/ms/v2/GitHub-Account-Setup-and-Configuration">GitHub</a></h2> <ol> <li> 6.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/GitHub-Account-Setup-and-Configuration">Account Setup and Configuration</a> </li> <li> 6.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/GitHub-Contributing-to-a-Project">Contributing to a Project</a> </li> <li> 6.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/GitHub-Maintaining-a-Project">Maintaining a Project</a> </li> <li> 6.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/GitHub-Managing-an-organization">Managing an organization</a> </li> <li> 6.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/GitHub-Scripting-GitHub">Scripting GitHub</a> </li> <li> 6.6 <a href="/book/ms/v2/GitHub-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> <li class='chapter'> <h2>7. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Revision-Selection">Git Tools</a></h2> <ol> <li> 7.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Revision-Selection">Revision Selection</a> </li> <li> 7.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Interactive-Staging">Interactive Staging</a> </li> <li> 7.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Stashing-and-Cleaning">Stashing and Cleaning</a> </li> <li> 7.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Signing-Your-Work">Signing Your Work</a> </li> <li> 7.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Searching">Searching</a> </li> <li> 7.6 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Rewriting-History">Rewriting History</a> </li> <li> 7.7 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Reset-Demystified">Reset Demystified</a> </li> <li> 7.8 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Advanced-Merging">Advanced Merging</a> </li> <li> 7.9 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Rerere">Rerere</a> </li> <li> 7.10 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Debugging-with-Git">Debugging with Git</a> </li> <li> 7.11 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules">Submodules</a> </li> <li> 7.12 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Bundling">Bundling</a> </li> <li> 7.13 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Replace">Replace</a> </li> <li> 7.14 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Credential-Storage">Credential Storage</a> </li> <li> 7.15 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Tools-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> <li class='chapter'> <h2>8. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Configuration">Customizing Git</a></h2> <ol> <li> 8.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Configuration">Git Configuration</a> </li> <li> 8.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Attributes">Git Attributes</a> </li> <li> 8.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks">Git Hooks</a> </li> <li> 8.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Customizing-Git-An-Example-Git-Enforced-Policy">An Example Git-Enforced Policy</a> </li> <li> 8.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Customizing-Git-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> <li class='chapter'> <h2>9. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-and-Other-Systems-Git-as-a-Client">Git and Other Systems</a></h2> <ol> <li> 9.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-and-Other-Systems-Git-as-a-Client">Git as a Client</a> </li> <li> 9.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-and-Other-Systems-Migrating-to-Git">Migrating to Git</a> </li> <li> 9.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-and-Other-Systems-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> <li class='chapter'> <h2>10. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Plumbing-and-Porcelain">Git Internals</a></h2> <ol> <li> 10.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Plumbing-and-Porcelain">Plumbing and Porcelain</a> </li> <li> 10.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Git-Objects">Git Objects</a> </li> <li> 10.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Git-References">Git References</a> </li> <li> 10.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Packfiles">Packfiles</a> </li> <li> 10.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-The-Refspec" class="active">The Refspec</a> </li> <li> 10.6 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Transfer-Protocols">Transfer Protocols</a> </li> <li> 10.7 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Maintenance-and-Data-Recovery">Maintenance and Data Recovery</a> </li> <li> 10.8 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Environment-Variables">Environment Variables</a> </li> <li> 10.9 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </div> <div class='column-right'> <ol class='book-toc'> <li class='chapter'> <h2>A1. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-A:-Git-in-Other-Environments-Graphical-Interfaces">Appendix A: Git in Other Environments</a></h2> <ol> <li> A1.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-A:-Git-in-Other-Environments-Graphical-Interfaces">Graphical Interfaces</a> </li> <li> A1.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-A:-Git-in-Other-Environments-Git-in-Visual-Studio">Git in Visual Studio</a> </li> <li> A1.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-A:-Git-in-Other-Environments-Git-in-Visual-Studio-Code">Git in Visual Studio Code</a> </li> <li> A1.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-A:-Git-in-Other-Environments-Git-in-IntelliJ-/-PyCharm-/-WebStorm-/-PhpStorm-/-RubyMine">Git in IntelliJ / PyCharm / WebStorm / PhpStorm / RubyMine</a> </li> <li> A1.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-A:-Git-in-Other-Environments-Git-in-Sublime-Text">Git in Sublime Text</a> </li> <li> A1.6 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-A:-Git-in-Other-Environments-Git-in-Bash">Git in Bash</a> </li> <li> A1.7 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-A:-Git-in-Other-Environments-Git-in-Zsh">Git in Zsh</a> </li> <li> A1.8 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-A:-Git-in-Other-Environments-Git-in-PowerShell">Git in PowerShell</a> </li> <li> A1.9 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-A:-Git-in-Other-Environments-Summary">Summary</a> </li> </ol> </li> <li class='chapter'> <h2>A2. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-B:-Embedding-Git-in-your-Applications-Command-line-Git">Appendix B: Embedding Git in your Applications</a></h2> <ol> <li> A2.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-B:-Embedding-Git-in-your-Applications-Command-line-Git">Command-line Git</a> </li> <li> A2.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-B:-Embedding-Git-in-your-Applications-Libgit2">Libgit2</a> </li> <li> A2.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-B:-Embedding-Git-in-your-Applications-JGit">JGit</a> </li> <li> A2.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-B:-Embedding-Git-in-your-Applications-go-git">go-git</a> </li> <li> A2.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-B:-Embedding-Git-in-your-Applications-Dulwich">Dulwich</a> </li> </ol> </li> <li class='chapter'> <h2>A3. <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Setup-and-Config">Appendix C: Git Commands</a></h2> <ol> <li> A3.1 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Setup-and-Config">Setup and Config</a> </li> <li> A3.2 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Getting-and-Creating-Projects">Getting and Creating Projects</a> </li> <li> A3.3 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Basic-Snapshotting">Basic Snapshotting</a> </li> <li> A3.4 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Branching-and-Merging">Branching and Merging</a> </li> <li> A3.5 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Sharing-and-Updating-Projects">Sharing and Updating Projects</a> </li> <li> A3.6 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Inspection-and-Comparison">Inspection and Comparison</a> </li> <li> A3.7 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Debugging">Debugging</a> </li> <li> A3.8 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Patching">Patching</a> </li> <li> A3.9 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Email">Email</a> </li> <li> A3.10 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-External-Systems">External Systems</a> </li> <li> A3.11 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Administration">Administration</a> </li> <li> A3.12 <a href="/book/ms/v2/Appendix-C:-Git-Commands-Plumbing-Commands">Plumbing Commands</a> </li> </ol> </li> </ol> </div> </div> </div> <span class="light" id="edition"> 2nd Edition </span> </div> <div id="main" data-pagefind-filter="category:book" data-pagefind-meta="category:Book" data-pagefind-weight="0.05" data-pagefind-body class="book edition2"> <h1>10.5 Git Internals - The Refspec</h1> <div> <h2 id="_refspec">The Refspec</h2> <div class="paragraph"> <p>Throughout this book, we’ve used simple mappings from remote branches to local references, but they can be more complex. Suppose you were following along with the last couple sections and had created a small local Git repository, and now wanted to add a <em>remote</em> to it:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-console" data-lang="console">$ git remote add origin https://github.com/schacon/simplegit-progit</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>Running the command above adds a section to your repository’s <code>.git/config</code> file, specifying the name of the remote (<code>origin</code>), the URL of the remote repository, and the <em>refspec</em> to be used for fetching:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-ini" data-lang="ini">[remote "origin"] url = https://github.com/schacon/simplegit-progit fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>The format of the refspec is, first, an optional <code>+</code>, followed by <code><src>:<dst></code>, where <code><src></code> is the pattern for references on the remote side and <code><dst></code> is where those references will be tracked locally. The <code>+</code> tells Git to update the reference even if it isn’t a fast-forward.</p> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>In the default case that is automatically written by a <code>git remote add origin</code> command, Git fetches all the references under <code>refs/heads/</code> on the server and writes them to <code>refs/remotes/origin/</code> locally. So, if there is a <code>master</code> branch on the server, you can access the log of that branch locally via any of the following:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-console" data-lang="console">$ git log origin/master $ git log remotes/origin/master $ git log refs/remotes/origin/master</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>They’re all equivalent, because Git expands each of them to <code>refs/remotes/origin/master</code>.</p> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>If you want Git instead to pull down only the <code>master</code> branch each time, and not every other branch on the remote server, you can change the fetch line to refer to that branch only:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code>fetch = +refs/heads/master:refs/remotes/origin/master</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>This is just the default refspec for <code>git fetch</code> for that remote. If you want to do a one-time only fetch, you can specify the specific refspec on the command line, too. To pull the <code>master</code> branch on the remote down to <code>origin/mymaster</code> locally, you can run:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-console" data-lang="console">$ git fetch origin master:refs/remotes/origin/mymaster</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>You can also specify multiple refspecs. On the command line, you can pull down several branches like so:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-console" data-lang="console">$ git fetch origin master:refs/remotes/origin/mymaster \ topic:refs/remotes/origin/topic From git@github.com:schacon/simplegit ! [rejected] master -> origin/mymaster (non fast forward) * [new branch] topic -> origin/topic</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>In this case, the <code>master</code> branch pull was rejected because it wasn’t listed as a fast-forward reference. You can override that by specifying the <code>+</code> in front of the refspec.</p> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>You can also specify multiple refspecs for fetching in your configuration file. If you want to always fetch the <code>master</code> and <code>experiment</code> branches from the <code>origin</code> remote, add two lines:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-ini" data-lang="ini">[remote "origin"] url = https://github.com/schacon/simplegit-progit fetch = +refs/heads/master:refs/remotes/origin/master fetch = +refs/heads/experiment:refs/remotes/origin/experiment</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>Since Git 2.6.0 you can use partial globs in the pattern to match multiple branches, so this works:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-ini" data-lang="ini">fetch = +refs/heads/qa*:refs/remotes/origin/qa*</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>Even better, you can use namespaces (or directories) to accomplish the same with more structure. If you have a QA team that pushes a series of branches, and you want to get the <code>master</code> branch and any of the QA team’s branches but nothing else, you can use a config section like this:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-ini" data-lang="ini">[remote "origin"] url = https://github.com/schacon/simplegit-progit fetch = +refs/heads/master:refs/remotes/origin/master fetch = +refs/heads/qa/*:refs/remotes/origin/qa/*</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>If you have a complex workflow process that has a QA team pushing branches, developers pushing branches, and integration teams pushing and collaborating on remote branches, you can namespace them easily this way.</p> </div> <div class="sect3"> <h3 id="_pushing_refspecs">Pushing Refspecs</h3> <div class="paragraph"> <p>It’s nice that you can fetch namespaced references that way, but how does the QA team get their branches into a <code>qa/</code> namespace in the first place? You accomplish that by using refspecs to push.</p> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>If the QA team wants to push their <code>master</code> branch to <code>qa/master</code> on the remote server, they can run:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-console" data-lang="console">$ git push origin master:refs/heads/qa/master</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>If they want Git to do that automatically each time they run <code>git push origin</code>, they can add a <code>push</code> value to their config file:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-ini" data-lang="ini">[remote "origin"] url = https://github.com/schacon/simplegit-progit fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/* push = refs/heads/master:refs/heads/qa/master</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>Again, this will cause a <code>git push origin</code> to push the local <code>master</code> branch to the remote <code>qa/master</code> branch by default.</p> </div> <div class="admonitionblock note"> <table> <tr> <td class="icon"> <div class="title">Note</div> </td> <td class="content"> <div class="paragraph"> <p>You cannot use the refspec to fetch from one repository and push to another one. For an example to do so, refer to <a href="/book/ms/v2/ch00/_fetch_and_push_on_different_repositories">Keep your GitHub public repository up-to-date</a>.</p> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </div> <div class="sect3"> <h3 id="_deleting_references">Deleting References</h3> <div class="paragraph"> <p>You can also use the refspec to delete references from the remote server by running something like this:</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-console" data-lang="console">$ git push origin :topic</code></pre> </div> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>Because the refspec is <code><src>:<dst></code>, by leaving off the <code><src></code> part, this basically says to make the <code>topic</code> branch on the remote nothing, which deletes it.</p> </div> <div class="paragraph"> <p>Or you can use the newer syntax (available since Git v1.7.0):</p> </div> <div class="listingblock"> <div class="content"> <pre class="highlight"><code class="language-console" data-lang="console">$ git push origin --delete topic</code></pre> </div> </div> </div> <div id="nav"><a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Packfiles">prev</a> | <a href="/book/ms/v2/Git-Internals-Transfer-Protocols">next</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer> <div class="site-source"> <a href="/site">About this site</a><br> Patches, suggestions, and comments are welcome. </div> <div class="sfc-member"> Git is a member of <a href="/sfc">Software Freedom Conservancy</a> </div> </footer> <a href="#top" class="no-js scrollToTop" id="scrollToTop" data-label="Scroll to top"> <img src="/images/icons/chevron-up@2x.png" width="20" height="20" alt="scroll-to-top"/> </a> <script src="/js/jquery-1.7.1.min.js"></script> <script src="/js/jquery-ui-1.8.18.custom.min.js"></script> <script src="/js/jquery.defaultvalue.js"></script> <script src="/js/session.min.js"></script> <script src="/js/application.min.js"></script> </div> </body> </html>