How to push a new local branch to a remote Git and track it

To push a new local branch to a remote Git repository and track it involves a couple of straightforward steps using Git commands. First, you create a new branch locally, make your changes, commit them, and then push the branch to the remote repository so others can access it. Tracking the branch ensures that Git sets up a relationship between your local branch and its counterpart on the remote repository, enabling you to push and pull changes seamlessly between them.

Creating and Pushing a New Local Branch

1. Create a New Branch

• To create a new branch locally in Git, use the git checkout -b command followed by the branch name. This command both creates a new branch and switches to it.

  git checkout -b new-feature

• This creates a new branch named new-feature based on your current branch (often main or master) and switches your working directory to the new branch.

2. Make Changes and Commit

• Make your desired changes to files in your working directory. Once you’ve made changes, stage them for commit using git add and then commit them with git commit.

  git add .
  git commit -m "Added new feature X"

• Replace "Added new feature X" with a concise commit message describing the changes you made.

Pushing the Branch to Remote and Tracking It

1. Push the Branch

• To push the newly created local branch to the remote repository, use the git push command followed by the remote name (often origin) and the branch name.

  git push origin new-feature

• This command pushes the new-feature branch from your local repository to the origin remote repository.

2. Track the Remote Branch

• By default, the branch you pushed won’t be tracked automatically. To set up tracking, you can use the --set-upstream or -u option with git push.

  git push -u origin new-feature

• Alternatively, you can use git branch --set-upstream-to command:

  git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/new-feature new-feature

• This command establishes a tracking relationship between your local new-feature branch and the remote origin/new-feature branch. It allows you to use git pull and git push without specifying the remote branch name each time.

Verifying Tracking and Remote Branch Status

1. Check Tracking Status

• To verify if your local branch is tracking a remote branch, use git branch -vv or git status command.

  git branch -vv

• This command lists all local branches and shows their tracking status, indicating which branches are tracking remote branches.

2. Fetch and Pull Changes

• Periodically fetch changes from the remote repository to stay up-to-date with any changes made by others. Use git fetch to fetch changes without merging them and git pull to fetch and merge changes into your local branch.

  git fetch origin
  git pull origin new-feature

• This updates your local branch with changes from the remote new-feature branch, keeping your local copy synchronized.

Handling Remote Branches and Collaboration

1. Collaborate and Share

• Once your branch is pushed and tracked, collaborate with teammates by sharing the branch name. They can check out the branch and make their own changes.

  git checkout new-feature

• Others can fetch and pull changes from the remote branch to their local repository using git fetch and git pull.

2. Deleting Remote Branches

• If the remote branch is no longer needed, delete it using git push with the --delete or -d option followed by the remote branch name.

  git push origin --delete new-feature

• This removes the new-feature branch from the remote repository.

Summary

Pushing a new local branch to a remote Git repository and tracking it involves creating the branch locally, making changes, committing them, and then using Git commands to push the branch to the remote repository while setting up tracking. Establishing tracking allows for seamless collaboration and synchronization between your local branch and its remote counterpart, enabling efficient teamwork and version control management. By following these steps and utilizing Git’s powerful features for branch management and collaboration, developers can streamline their workflow and ensure consistency across team projects.