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@yannvery
Created January 20, 2016 09:52
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How to maintain fork sync

How to maintain fork sync

Configuring a remote for a fork

To sync changes you make in a fork with the original repository, you must configure a remote that points to the upstream repository in Git.

  • Open a Terminal
  • List current configured remote repository for your fork
git remote -v
origin  https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (fetch)
origin  https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (push)
  • Specify a new remote upstream repository that will be synced with the fork.
git remote add upstream https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git
  • Verify the new upstream repository you've specified for your fork.
git remote -v
origin    https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (fetch)
origin    https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (push)
upstream  https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git (fetch)
upstream  https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git (push)

Syncing the fork

  • Fetch the branches and their respective commits from the upstream repository. Commits to master will be stored in a local branch, upstream/master.
git fetch upstream
remote: Counting objects: 75, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (53/53), done.
remote: Total 62 (delta 27), reused 44 (delta 9)
Unpacking objects: 100% (62/62), done.
From https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY
 * [new branch]      master     -> upstream/master
  • Check out your forks's local master branch.
git checkout master
Switched to branch 'master'
  • Merge the changes from upstream/master into your local master branch. This brings your fork's master branch into sync with the upstream repository, without losing your local changes.
git merge upstream/master
Updating a422352..5fdff0f
Fast-forward
 README                    |    9 -------
 README.md                 |    7 ++++++
 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
 delete mode 100644 README
 create mode 100644 README.md

If your local branch didn't have any unique commits, Git will instead perform a "fast-forward":

git merge upstream/master
Updating 34e91da..16c56ad
Fast-forward
 README.md                 |    5 +++--
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
  • Push your local master branch to your fork remote repository
git push
Counting objects: 287, done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (224/224), done.
Writing objects: 100% (287/287), 38.58 KiB | 0 bytes/s, done.
Total 287 (delta 192), reused 90 (delta 52)
To git@github.com:yannvery/errbit.git
   1031f6c..3e1d065  master -> master

Sources

Github: Configuring a remote for a fork
Github: Syncing a fork

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