Get updates list before merging

gistfile1.eclass

# I was trying to figure out how to get a list of changes made remotely on Git
# before applying. Here's what I came up with.

# First, get the latest data from the origin
git fetch origin

# Then, get the changes and output to a file
git log HEAD..origin/master > changes.txt

# Merge changes in
git merge origin/master

I don't know exactly why you need to see the log and how you use that info.
I use GitX (on Mac). Just fetch, and refresh to see the logs and the changes... if that's good, then merge...

Actually, the experimental fork of GitX is pretty better because of the fetch, pull and push buttons on the bottom. :)

http://brotherbard.com/blog/2010/03/experimental-gitx-fork/
https://github.com/brotherbard/gitx

Unless you only need changes from origin, you can remove 'origin' from the first command, and simply run
git fetch

This is part of a CI script I'm writing. The basic idea is that I only want to do a new build if there have been changes. I use the changelog to determine if there have been changes, so:

if [ -s changes.txt]; then
    git merge origin/master
    #do build
fi

Seems to be working so far.