Hi Jonathan, Thank you for your time. I would be for something like `git fetch --head` or `git fetch --remote-head` as the name. It also matches `git fetch --tags` - fetch tags from remote, in addition to whatever else. Aside from that, there are no further comments from my side. I would be really happy to see the option in newer versions of Git (though, I would be more happier being able to implement it in current ones...). However, I won't be able to implement it myself for two reasons; a) not enough skill in C and b) unfortunately, I do not have enough time. Nevertheless, I can assist during the development of this feature if approved and if there is someone who actually writes the code.
Another solution, on the other hand, could be the one from the provided link [1] - use ~ for symrefs. That would also solve my problem and since it would be equivalent to `git remote set-head origin -a`, I am perfectly fine with that. Just run `git config --add remote.origin.fetch ~HEAD:refs/remotes/origin/HEAD` after setting up the origin remote and then just use `git fetch`. About the `git checkout --orphan`: it also modifies the work tree in my case (files in local repository), which I don't want to. Still, if I want to create a branch to delete another branch (default clone local branch), that itself is counterproductive - I don't want any local branches. There is another problem, though. What name to choose for `git checkout --orphan <name>` not to conflict with a default branch (that could be anything) of the repository? Yep, there is a solution for that but I don't want to make things over-complicated. I would rather not use the `git clone` solution as long as there is no `git clone --no-checkout-and-no-local-branches`-like option/s. However, it looks like I have found an optimal workaround for my case. Use git init, setup git remote and also run `git config --add remote.origin.fetch HEAD:refs/remotes/origin/HEAD`. Now, using a plain `git fetch` for fetching updates also fetches the current default remote commit in origin/HEAD each time used, so no symbolic reference to a branch might not be required as origin/HEAD points to the latest commit of the default branch in both cases. Symbolic reference may be beneficient in case when not fetching origin/HEAD while fetching the branch pointed by origin/HEAD reference, which may fail in case the remote updates its origin/HEAD anyways (e.g., on GitHub - repository Settings -> Branches -> Default branch). Due to my workaround, I guess now it's up to you, developers, whether developing a `git fetch --head` option or ~ for symrefs worth it for you. Anyway, if you find any pitfalls in my workaround, please let me know. If you are rather interested in the actual implementation, take a look at GitPack hosted on github.com/dominiksalvet/gitpack, the affected file is src/gitpack (search for 'git config'). Have a nice day, On Wed, 9 Oct 2019 at 04:25, Jonathan Nieder <jrnie...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi! > > Dominik Salvet wrote: > > > 1) `git fetch origin && git remote set-head origin -a` > > 2) `git fetch origin +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/* > > HEAD:refs/remotes/origin/HEAD` > > 3) instead of git init and remote, use directly `git clone --no-checkout` > > > > The first solution is not suitable due its delay caused by remote > > access (2 separate invocations). For smaller repositories, delays of > > these individual commands are almost comparable. However, this > > solution is semantically exactly what I want. > > Interesting. > > For the specific case, it sounds like some kind of "git fetch > --also-set-head" would do the trick for you. As you can see, I'm awful > at naming command line options --- aside from the need to give it a > better name, any others thoughts on that? Would you be interested in > taking a stab at implementing it? > > For the more general case, there's been some discussion of fetching > and pushing symrefs on-list before. [1] discusses one possible UI. > > [...] > > The third solution has several problems. The first one is the created > > default local branch. So delete it. > > Hm, I don't follow. Does "git checkout --orphan" do what you're > looking for? > > Thanks and hope that helps, > Jonathan > > [1] https://public-inbox.org/git/20180814214723.ga...@sigill.intra.peff.net/ -- Dominik Salvet
