There is a branch in github that I can access via Eclipse/eGit. A colleague then created a branch off of that existing branch, but that new branch is not visible to me in Eclipse or from the command line. What do I need to do to make that branch-off-of-a-branch visible to me?
Your colleague needs to push it to Github, then you need to do a fetch to get it from Github. Then, if you want to work on that same branch yourself, you need to create a local branch based on it, which, in recent Git versions, can be done simply via git checkout <simple branch name>.
Update: So when you have trouble fetching remote refs, you should check that your fetch refspec looks something like +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*, or you won't see the whole picture.
Related
I'd like to know how to proceed in GitHub where I could to be able to get the updates from the original repo but prevent opening a PR after each time I push a change made by myself?
The concept I want to apply this is to use a blog template for my GitHub pages. I'd like to get the feature for the future if the contributors would make any but at the same time, I'd like to prevent pushing anything to the original repo as a PR since those commits wouldn't include anything related to making a contribution to the project.
PRs aren't generated automatically, you need to explicitly create them from a branch.
You can fork a repo and work on it, and when needed, fetch and rebase from the original repo you forked from. As long as you don't explicitly use this repo to create PRs on the original repo, you should be fine.
EDIT - Adding some details as per the last comment:
Assume there's a repo called something owned by someone. You can start off by forking it to youruser using the GitHub UI. Then you can clone your fork and work on it:
git clone https://github.com/youruser/something.git
In order to get the recent changes from the original someone/something repo, you need to set it up as a remote. By convention you'd call this remote your "upstream", but you can really give it any name you choose:
git remote add upstream https://github.com/someone/something.git
Once you've added it as a remote, you can fetch from it and rebase on top of it:
git fetch upstream && git rebase upstream/main
(note that using the main branch is just an example. You can of course rebase on top of any branch in the remote repo)
I think it's not possible because when you clone or fork that repo, from that time, you start to add your own content to it since it's your personal blog. So you cannot keep getting the features from main repo. Maybe you can try rebase but I'm not sure if it works for this case. Or you can add those features to your repo by your own whenever you need them.
What command do I use to push my code to github through VSCode command line? It is making me pull first, but I don't want to accept any incoming changes.
Maybe that's happening because your current branch (assuming it is main or master) is outdated and wants to update itself first.
There are some ways you can do this:
Using Git in the command line (recommended, easiest way).
Using Visual Studio Code UI.
Using Git in the command line
Say, the current branch you're working on is named updates.
We can use the following command to push to GitHub:
git push origin updates:updates
That will push your changes remotely (GitHub).
You might wonder why updates:updates:
The first one is the name of the local branch, the second one is the name of the remote branch.
After that, your changes will be pushed to GitHub in the branch updates.
If your branch isn't available remotely yet, it will create a new branch named updates with the same commits and changes in the local branch updates. 🙂
Using Visual Studio Code UI
First make sure you're on the correct local branch. You can change branches by clicking on the name of the current branch you're on on the bottom at the left.
Next, go to the Source Control (Ctrl+Shift+G), then click on the ..., then Push.
Your changes will be pushed to GitHub now with the same local branch name.
Hope this answer is useful to you. 🙂
I'm trying to create a pull request on GitHub for project "original/QWERTY" so I forked the repo to "Mark/QWERTY". In Eclipse, I already have a repository set up for "original/QWERTY" and that project is in my workspace, named QWERTY.
Now if I create a new repository pointing at "Mark/QWERTY", I'll have two projects with the same name and both Eclipse and me won't like it.
I thought that it should be possible to have a branch or another remote under a repository and switch between them instead of having two copies (I mean just store the diffs). The problem is that they are different projects on GitHub so I'm not sure how to do it.
What is the correct way to set up two GitHub projects to create a pull request from my fork to the original one in Eclipse with EGit?
The usual workflow for forked repositories is to have a single local repository with a single work directory that is configured to fetch and push from/to multiple remote repositories.
With this setup, you can switch between branches that originate from different remote repositories.
The Fork a repo documentation of GitHub explains this setup when using CLI Git. Most of it should also apply to repositories hosted elsewhere.
Using the EGit documentation, it should be possible to translate these instructions into the corresponding actions in EGit.
How to manage multiple remotes with EGit is documented here: https://wiki.eclipse.org/EGit/User_Guide#Remote_Repositories
Using the information from Rudiger's comment and answer and my trial and error with branches I made my own steps. This picture also helps with terminology.
First, do these 2 things in any order:
fork the original project in the github website so now you have the original and the fork. They have the same code and branches.
create a local repository pointing to the original repo on github. Let's say you decided to select only the master branch.
Remotes: you get a new remote I'll call origin (default). configure its fetch if it's not done for you, the default specification is +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*. This ref spec maps all the repo branches to Remote Tracking branches with the same name. If you want to only fetch the master branch then use +refs/heads/master:refs/remotes/origin/master.
Branches: you get a "Remote Tracking" branch called origin/master and a local branch called master with configuration of "Remote: origin" and "Upstream Branch: refs/heads/master". You will be working under the local master as it's the only branch right now.
Now you want to be able to push to your fork so you can create PR. You can and already did pull from the original to keep getting updates from other people's work.
Right click on "Remotes" and create a new remote, I'll call it fork (call it whatever you need). Configure its push.
the URI points to your fork the same way the origin Remote URI points to the original.
The ref mapping maps the branches. Go to "Advanced" and click "Add All Branch Specs" if it isn't done for you. You should get the spec refs/heads/*:refs/heads/*. It's easy to work with this spec but you can change it to whatever you need.
Create a local branch (right click -> switch to -> new branch) whose source is the local branch named master and the branch name is whatever suits what it does. it can be the master branch or a new branch that let's say fixes a bug, so bug 123. You do not have a Remote Tracking branch because those are used for pulls. If you also pull from fork then you will need to configure that in the Remote fork and get a remote branch.
Now you are working on a local branch bug 123 (you can see a checkmark next to it). Fix the bug in your code and in the Git Staging view you should see the files changed and the title is <Repository name> [bug 123]. Make sure you are going to commit/push to the correct branch! Stage whatever you need and commit (adds the changes to the local branch bug123) and push (creates a branch on the github repo called bug 123 if you stayed with the default spec).
Now go to the GitHub repo page of either the original or the fork and the UI will tell you that you can create a PR. From there GitHub will guide you.
Once the PR is merged into the master branch of the original on GitHubm, you will want to fetch from the master.
Right click on the Remote origin or its fetch "subdir" and choose fetch. The will fetch any changes in all the remote branches because the fetch spec we used maps all the branches (we used the * character).
That's it. Continue to switch to a local branch which maps to your fork based on the updated master, fix bug, commit and push, create PR, wait for merge into the original, fetch and pull from the original.
I don't know how to run command line stuff. I just don’t have the environment.
So I'm trying to rename a branch on the GitHub website. It was, by default, named patch-1.
Is it possible to rename it on the site?
I just did it without downloading any code to my laptop and using only the GitHub site.
The solution looks the same as #swcool’s, but I want to add about the default branch.
In my case, the name of the renaming branch did not exist.
Change the default branch (to the old branch you want to rename)
Create a new branch (with a new name)
This action will copy all the contents of the default branch (the branch with the old name) to the new branch (with a new name). At this time, you have two branches with the same code.
Change the default branch (to the new one with a new name)
Delete the old branch
I think you can, just create a new branch with the new name, and delete the old one on github.
More detail you can see here.
It is not possible to rename a branch from the Github website. You will need to do the following -
Setup your Git Environment
Follow this - https://help.github.com/articles/set-up-git
Rename branch locally & on Github
git branch -m old_branch new_branch # Rename branch locally
git push origin :old_branch # Delete the old branch
git push --set-upstream origin new_branch # Push the new branch, set local branch to track the new remote
If you don't want to install Git, clone the repo, rename the branch locally and push it back to GitHub, you can use the GitHub API for references:
create a new branch where the old one is:
POST /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs
{
"ref": "refs/heads/newBranchName",
"sha": "<SHA1 of old branch>"
}
delete the old branch:
DELETE /repos/:owner/:repo/git/refs/heads/oldBranchName
That way, you will have "renamed" (create+delete) the branch without having git locally.
And, as commented by user3533716 below, use the GitHub API for listing branches to get those branch SHA1:
GET /repos/:owner/:repo/branches
Since Jan., 19th 2021, you now can rename a branch directly on github.com:
Support for renaming an existing branch:
You can now rename any branch, including the default branch, from the web.
If you've been waiting to rename your default branch from master to main, we now recommend doing so using this feature.
When a branch is renamed:
Open pull requests and draft releases targeting the renamed branch will be retargeted automatically
Branch protection rules that explicitly reference the renamed branch will be updated
Note: admin permissions are required to rename the default branch, but write permissions are sufficient to rename other branches.
To help make the change as seamless as possible for users:
We'll show a notice to contributors, maintainers, and admins on the repository homepage with instructions for updating their local repository
Web requests to the old branch will be redirected
A "moved permanently" HTTP response will be returned to REST API calls
An informational message will be displayed to Git command line users that push to the old branch
This change is one of many changes GitHub is making to support projects and maintainers that want to rename their default branch.
Branch names will not change unless the maintainer explicitly makes the change, however this new rename functionality should dramatically reduce the disruption to projects who do want to change branch names.
To learn more about the change we've made, see github/renaming.
To learn more, see Renaming a branch.
To rename a branch on the Github website, just go to your repo's home page, click on where it says "branches"
Then, find the branch you're interested in, click the pencil button
and from there, you can rename your branch.
If you want a GUI based solution - download the Git Client "GitKraken". It supports doing this from UI by right-clicking on the branch name and choosing "rename [branch name]".
I had made some changes to the code and wanted to create a new branch to reflect those changes.
Using the github software on mac, Peak Meme (162), I clicked on branches, clicked the + sign next to master, created a branch called updating-design. I think I clicked publish.
Then I went into PHP storm and all the code from the last few days was deleted.
The code was deleted from my local clone. I was trying to push the changes I had made through the new branch.
You can use the git reflog and retrieve it from the command line
It sounds like you were already working on another branch without realizing it, and now you've checked out a new branch that doesn't have the work. Double-check your list of branches.
Git is pretty adamant about not deleting your work just because you switched branches.