Create documentation for maintaining a fork. about git-gosling HOT 1 CLOSED

Thanks for the issue report.

The basic problem is that git status will straight up lie to you about the status of your origin/main branch, if you don't first do a git fetch --all to update what Git knows.

Also git status will only show you the status compared to the origin/main branch as that is the tracking branch for the local main branch. You'll need to manually figure out where you are in relation to the upstream branches with other Git commands.

This will be added to the guide for sure, as I see new developers struggle with this all the time.

Git fetch to check for updates to fork and remotes

Use git fetch --all --prune, to check for updates on your fork and remotes, --prune will remove pointers to branches on the origin or upstream that are no longer present.

Check local branches

Use git branch -vv to check all your local branches.
You can remove local branches that are gone on the remote with git branch -D name_of_branch_to_remove.

Getting a list of all remotes with:

$ git remote -vv

origin	https://github.com/RoostingGeese/git-gosling.git (fetch)
origin	https://github.com/RoostingGeese/git-gosling.git (push)

Configuring a remote for a fork

If you are using a fork, you should setup a new remote called upstream that points to the upstream project.

$ git remote add upstream https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git

https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/collaborating-with-issues-and-pull-requests/configuring-a-remote-for-a-fork

Checking where you are in relation to all other branches

I recommend you try out git log --all --decorate --oneline --graph.
This will give you a big overview of all commits on all branches.
That way you can compare if you are ahead/behind of the upstream branch.

from git-gosling.