:: The "remote" repository that is the source of a fetch or pull operation. See the section <> below. :: The canonical format of a parameter is `+?:`; that is, an optional plus `+`, followed by the source ref, followed by a colon `:`, followed by the destination ref. + The remote ref that matches is fetched, and if is not empty string, the local ref that matches it is fast forwarded using . Again, if the optional plus `+` is used, the local ref is updated even if it does not result in a fast forward update. + [NOTE] If the remote branch from which you want to pull is modified in non-linear ways such as being rewound and rebased frequently, then a pull will attempt a merge with an older version of itself, likely conflict, and fail. It is under these conditions that you would want to use the `+` sign to indicate non-fast-forward updates will be needed. There is currently no easy way to determine or declare that a branch will be made available in a repository with this behavior; the pulling user simply must know this is the expected usage pattern for a branch. + [NOTE] You never do your own development on branches that appear on the right hand side of a colon on `Pull:` lines; they are to be updated by `git-fetch`. If you intend to do development derived from a remote branch `B`, have a `Pull:` line to track it (i.e. `Pull: B:remote-B`), and have a separate branch `my-B` to do your development on top of it. The latter is created by `git branch my-B remote-B` (or its equivalent `git checkout -b my-B remote-B`). Run `git fetch` to keep track of the progress of the remote side, and when you see something new on the remote branch, merge it into your development branch with `git pull . remote-B`, while you are on `my-B` branch. + [NOTE] There is a difference between listing multiple directly on `git-pull` command line and having multiple `Pull:` lines for a and running `git-pull` command without any explicit parameters. listed explicitly on the command line are always merged into the current branch after fetching. In other words, if you list more than one remote refs, you would be making an Octopus. While `git-pull` run without any explicit parameter takes default s from `Pull:` lines, it merges only the first found into the current branch, after fetching all the remote refs. This is because making an Octopus from remote refs is rarely done, while keeping track of multiple remote heads in one-go by fetching more than one is often useful. + Some short-cut notations are also supported. + * `tag ` means the same as `refs/tags/:refs/tags/`; it requests fetching everything up to the given tag. * A parameter without a colon is equivalent to : when pulling/fetching, so it merges into the current branch without storing the remote branch anywhere locally