Git Track Remote Branch - Shell/Bash

In Git, tracking a remote branch means associating a local branch with a remote branch, so that Git knows where to push changes and from which branch to pull changes.

To track a remote branch in Shell/Bash, follow these steps:

1. List all the remote branches by running the command:

git branch -r

This command lists all the remote branches, preceded by origin/.

2. Create a local branch that tracks the remote branch by running the command:

git checkout -b <local-branch-name> <remote-branch-name>

Replace <local-branch-name> with the name of the local branch you want to create, and <remote-branch-name> with the name of the remote branch you want to track.

For example, to track the remote branch feature-1 and create a local branch named feature-1-local, run the command:

git checkout -b feature-1-local origin/feature-1

3. Verify that the local branch is tracking the remote branch by running the command:

git branch -vv

This command lists all the local branches, preceded by a status indicator that shows whether the branch is ahead, behind, or up-to-date with the remote branch.

For example, if the local branch feature-1-local is up-to-date with the remote branch origin/feature-1, the output will be:

* feature-1-local 1234567 [origin/feature-1] Up-to-date

If the local branch is not tracking the remote branch, you can set the upstream branch by running the command:

git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/<remote-branch-name> <local-branch-name>

Replace <remote-branch-name> and <local-branch-name> with the appropriate names.

By tracking a remote branch, you can pull changes from the remote branch and push your local changes to the same branch on the remote repository.

Make sure to always fetch the latest changes from the remote repository before working on the local branch by running the command:

git fetch

This command updates the local repository with the latest changes from the remote repository.

Happy coding!