starting a new remote branch

In the examples below, there is a shared repo (shared), a user1 (doing the branch changes), and a user2 (needs to pull the branch changes).

Method 2 may be better for you if the branch already exists locally, and you need that history pushed to the shared repo.

• shared repo has one branch: master
• user1 pushes a new branch (dev) to the shared repo

  $ git push origin origin:refs/heads/dev

• user1 now has the following branches locally:

  $ git branch -a
  
  * master
    remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
    remotes/origin/dev
    remotes/origin/master

• user1 now must create a local branch which is set to “track” the new remote branch:

  $ git checkout --track -b dev origin/dev
  $ git branch -a
  
  * dev
    master
    remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
    remotes/origin/dev
    remotes/origin/master

• user2 can pull changes to see the new branch, then use the same command as user1 to create a local branch and track the remote branch:

  $ git pull
  
  From /path/to/shared/repo
   * [new branch]      dev        -> origin/dev
  Already up-to-date.
  
  $ git checkout --track -b dev origin/dev
  $ git branch -a
  
  * dev
    master
    remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
    remotes/origin/dev
    remotes/origin/master

• shared repo has one branch: master
• user1 creates a new local branch called dev

  $ git checkout -b dev

• push the new local branch to the shared repo:

  $ git push origin dev

• but wait - even though user1 created the branch and pushed it to the remote, the local branch is not yet tracking the shared branch
  • option 1 - delete the local branch and create it again with –track

    $ git checkout master
    $ git branch -D dev
    $ git checkout --track -b dev origin/dev

  • option 2 - manually edit your .git/config by adding lines similar to the following

    [branch "dev"]
    	remote = origin
    	merge = refs/heads/dev

• user2 can pull changes to see the new branch, then use the same command as user1 to create a local branch and track the remote branch:

  $ git pull
  
  From /path/to/shared/repo
   * [new branch]      dev        -> origin/dev
  Already up-to-date.
  
  $ git checkout --track -b dev origin/dev
  $ git branch -a
  
  * dev
    master
    remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
    remotes/origin/dev
    remotes/origin/master