From: "Julia Evans via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail•com>
To: git@vger•kernel.org
Cc: "D. Ben Knoble" <ben.knoble@gmail•com>,
Chris Torek <chris.torek@gmail•com>,
Kristoffer Haugsbakk <kristofferhaugsbakk@fastmail•com>,
Julia Evans <julia@jvns•ca>, Julia Evans <julia@jvns•ca>
Subject: [PATCH v3 2/4] doc: git-pull: clarify options for integrating remote branch
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2025 13:13:29 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <0ff00b4ff608683eafcc636a8c0c1c8b10bbe47d.1760534011.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <pull.1976.v3.git.1760534011.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
From: Julia Evans <julia@jvns•ca>
From user feedback:
- One user is confused about the current default ("I was convinced that
the git default was still to merge on pull")
- One user is confused about why "git fetch" isn't mentioned earlier
- One user says they always forget what the arguments to `git pull` are
and that it's not immediately obvious that `--no-rebase` means "merge"
- One user wants `--ff-only` to be mentioned
Resolve this by listing the options for integrating the the remote
branch. This should help users figure out at a glance which one they
want to do, and make it clearer that --ff-only is the default.
Signed-off-by: Julia Evans <julia@jvns•ca>
---
Documentation/git-pull.adoc | 31 ++++++++++++++++++++-----------
1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-pull.adoc b/Documentation/git-pull.adoc
index a3d248dd1d..0686a9d666 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-pull.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-pull.adoc
@@ -15,17 +15,26 @@ SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-Incorporates changes from a remote repository into the current branch.
-If the current branch is behind the remote, then by default it will
-fast-forward the current branch to match the remote. If the current
-branch and the remote have diverged, the user needs to specify how to
-reconcile the divergent branches with `--rebase` or `--no-rebase` (or
-the corresponding configuration option in `pull.rebase`).
-
-More precisely, `git pull` runs `git fetch` with the given parameters
-and then depending on configuration options or command line flags,
-will call either `git rebase` or `git merge` to reconcile diverging
-branches.
+Integrate changes from a remote repository into the current branch.
+
+First, `git pull` runs `git fetch` with the same arguments
+(excluding merge options) to fetch remote branch(es).
+Then it decides which remote branch to integrate: if you run `git pull`
+with no arguments this defaults to the <<UPSTREAM-BRANCHES,upstream>>
+for the current branch.
+Then it integrates that branch into the current branch.
+
+There are 4 main options for integrating the remote branch:
+
+1. `git pull --ff-only` will only do "fast-forward" updates: it
+ fails if your local branch has diverged from the remote branch.
+ This is the default.
+2. `git pull --rebase` runs `git rebase`
+3. `git pull --no-rebase` runs `git merge`.
+4. `git pull --squash` runs `git merge --squash`
+
+You can also set the configuration options `pull.rebase`, `pull.squash`,
+or `pull.ff` with your preferred behaviour.
Assume the following history exists and the current branch is
"`master`":
--
gitgitgadget
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-10-15 13:13 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 32+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-09-23 19:44 [PATCH 0/4] doc: git-pull: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-23 19:44 ` [PATCH 1/4] doc: git-pull: move <repository> and <refspec> params Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-24 20:17 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-10-07 21:20 ` Julia Evans
2025-09-23 19:45 ` [PATCH 2/4] doc: git-pull: clarify options for integrating remote branch Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-24 20:23 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-09-24 20:54 ` Julia Evans
2025-09-24 22:38 ` Chris Torek
2025-10-06 21:16 ` Julia Evans
2025-09-23 19:45 ` [PATCH 3/4] doc: git-pull: delete the example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-23 19:45 ` [PATCH 4/4] doc: git-pull: clarify how to exit a conflicted merge Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-24 17:21 ` Julia Evans
2025-09-24 20:29 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-10-07 21:01 ` Julia Evans
2025-10-10 0:45 ` Ben Knoble
2025-09-24 19:56 ` [PATCH 0/4] doc: git-pull: clarify DESCRIPTION section D. Ben Knoble
2025-10-08 19:25 ` [PATCH v2 " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-10-08 19:25 ` [PATCH v2 1/4] doc: git-pull: move <repository> and <refspec> params Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-10-08 19:25 ` [PATCH v2 2/4] doc: git-pull: clarify options for integrating remote branch Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-10-08 21:33 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-10-09 21:31 ` Julia Evans
2025-10-09 22:20 ` Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2025-10-09 22:41 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-10-08 19:25 ` [PATCH v2 3/4] doc: git-pull: delete the example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-10-08 19:25 ` [PATCH v2 4/4] doc: git-pull: clarify how to exit a conflicted merge Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-10-15 13:13 ` [PATCH v3 0/4] doc: git-pull: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-10-15 13:13 ` [PATCH v3 1/4] doc: git-pull: move <repository> and <refspec> params Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-10-15 13:13 ` Julia Evans via GitGitGadget [this message]
2025-10-15 13:13 ` [PATCH v3 3/4] doc: git-pull: delete the example Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-10-15 13:13 ` [PATCH v3 4/4] doc: git-pull: clarify how to exit a conflicted merge Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-10-15 16:56 ` [PATCH v3 0/4] doc: git-pull: clarify DESCRIPTION section Ben Knoble
2025-10-15 20:36 ` Junio C Hamano
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