2 The "remote" repository that is the source of a fetch
3 or pull operation. This parameter can be either a URL
4 (see the section <<URLS,GIT URLS>> below) or the name
5 of a remote (see the section <<REMOTES,REMOTES>> below).
9 A name referring to a list of repositories as the value
10 of remotes.<group> in the configuration file.
11 (See linkgit:git-config[1]).
15 Specifies which refs to fetch and which local refs to update.
16 When no <refspec>s appear on the command line, the refs to fetch
17 are read from `remote.<repository>.fetch` variables instead
19 (see <<CRTB,CONFIGURED REMOTE-TRACKING BRANCHES>> below).
22 (see the section "CONFIGURED REMOTE-TRACKING BRANCHES"
23 in linkgit:git-fetch[1]).
26 The format of a <refspec> parameter is an optional plus
27 `+`, followed by the source <src>, followed
28 by a colon `:`, followed by the destination ref <dst>.
29 The colon can be omitted when <dst> is empty. <src> is
30 typically a ref, but it can also be a fully spelled hex object
33 `tag <tag>` means the same as `refs/tags/<tag>:refs/tags/<tag>`;
34 it requests fetching everything up to the given tag.
36 The remote ref that matches <src>
37 is fetched, and if <dst> is not an empty string, an attempt
38 is made to update the local ref that matches it.
40 Whether that update is allowed without `--force` depends on the ref
41 namespace it's being fetched to, the type of object being fetched, and
42 whether the update is considered to be a fast-forward. Generally, the
43 same rules apply for fetching as when pushing, see the `<refspec>...`
44 section of linkgit:git-push[1] for what those are. Exceptions to those
45 rules particular to 'git fetch' are noted below.
47 Until Git version 2.20, and unlike when pushing with
48 linkgit:git-push[1], any updates to `refs/tags/*` would be accepted
49 without `+` in the refspec (or `--force`). When fetching, we promiscuously
50 considered all tag updates from a remote to be forced fetches. Since
51 Git version 2.20, fetching to update `refs/tags/*` works the same way
52 as when pushing. I.e. any updates will be rejected without `+` in the
53 refspec (or `--force`).
55 Unlike when pushing with linkgit:git-push[1], any updates outside of
56 `refs/{tags,heads}/*` will be accepted without `+` in the refspec (or
57 `--force`), whether that's swapping e.g. a tree object for a blob, or
58 a commit for another commit that's doesn't have the previous commit as
61 Unlike when pushing with linkgit:git-push[1], there is no
62 configuration which'll amend these rules, and nothing like a
63 `pre-fetch` hook analogous to the `pre-receive` hook.
65 As with pushing with linkgit:git-push[1], all of the rules described
66 above about what's not allowed as an update can be overridden by
67 adding an the optional leading `+` to a refspec (or using `--force`
68 command line option). The only exception to this is that no amount of
69 forcing will make the `refs/heads/*` namespace accept a non-commit
73 When the remote branch you want to fetch is known to
74 be rewound and rebased regularly, it is expected that
75 its new tip will not be descendant of its previous tip
76 (as stored in your remote-tracking branch the last time
77 you fetched). You would want
78 to use the `+` sign to indicate non-fast-forward updates
79 will be needed for such branches. There is no way to
80 determine or declare that a branch will be made available
81 in a repository with this behavior; the pulling user simply
82 must know this is the expected usage pattern for a branch.
86 There is a difference between listing multiple <refspec>
87 directly on 'git pull' command line and having multiple
88 `remote.<repository>.fetch` entries in your configuration
89 for a <repository> and running a
90 'git pull' command without any explicit <refspec> parameters.
91 <refspec>s listed explicitly on the command line are always
92 merged into the current branch after fetching. In other words,
93 if you list more than one remote ref, 'git pull' will create
94 an Octopus merge. On the other hand, if you do not list any
95 explicit <refspec> parameter on the command line, 'git pull'
96 will fetch all the <refspec>s it finds in the
97 `remote.<repository>.fetch` configuration and merge
98 only the first <refspec> found into the current branch.
99 This is because making an
100 Octopus from remote refs is rarely done, while keeping track
101 of multiple remote heads in one-go by fetching more than one