how to implicitly `git push` from a local branch "X" to "origin/Y"

Question

Say you have a branch on your origin that has a ridiculously long name...

$> git branch -a
* master
  origin/master
  origin/branch-with-a-ridiculously-long-name

And when you work on that branch locally, you want to give it a less ridiculous name, like bob.

$> git checkout origin/branch-with-a-ridiculously-long-name
$> git checkout -b bob
$> git branch --set-upstream bob origin/branch-with-a-ridiculously-long-name

When it comes time to push, what can you do such that if you run:

$> git checkout bob
$> git push

then any local changes on "bob" will be sent to the "branch-with-a-ridiculously-long-name", and won't create a new branch on origin called "bob"?

I'm effectively after a way of making git push implicitly expand in to git push origin bob:branch-with-a-ridiculously-long-name.

I think setting git config push.default upstream goes part of the way, but I'm not sure how to deal with the fact that the local branch's name differs from the remote.

I think this question has been asked before at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4109136/configure-a-local-branch-for-push-to-specific-branch — Chris, Sep 28 '11 at 14:15

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 28 '11 at 12:29

3

If you set push.default to upstream (or tracking in versions of git before 1.7.4.2), that should do exactly what you want when you run:

   git push

... or:

   git push origin

The git branch --set-upstream command that you ran, in combination with the config setting, should make that work.

I wrote a post about this unfortunate asymmetry between git push and git pull.

answered Sep 28 '11 at 12:29

Mark Longair

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Oh man, I was basically at the solution, but I didn't realise it! Thanks, Mark, `push.default` is the secret sauce I needed :) – Chris Sep 28 '11 at 12:44

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 28 '11 at 12:27

1

Is this what you're after? http://markmcb.com/2008/09/21/multiple-remote-git-branches-with-different-local-names/

answered Sep 28 '11 at 12:27

JamesHalsall

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That's a pretty inventive approach to solving the problem! I'm hoping there's some nice first-order support that doesn't involve manually editing the config files, but this is good to know. Thanks! – Chris Sep 28 '11 at 12:43

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 14 '16 at 03:36

More recent versions of git (most 2.x versions) include the option to set all of this configuration in one command:

git checkout -b bob origin/branch-with-a-ridiculously-long-name

That will set the upstream of bob to the correct remote branch.

Alternatively if you have a local branch already, you can use the --set-upstream-to flag:

git checkout bob
git branch --set-upstream-to origin/branch-with-a-ridiculously-long-name

Both of these will correctly set the git config

how to implicitly `git push` from a local branch "X" to "origin/Y"

3 Answers3

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