Check if pull needed in Git

Question

How do I check whether the remote repository has changed and I need to pull?

Now I use this simple script:

git pull --dry-run | grep -q -v \'Already          


        

Answer 1

If you run this script, it will test if the current branch need a git pull:

#!/bin/bash

git fetch -v --dry-run 2>&1 |
    grep -qE "\[up\s+to\s+date\]\s+$(
        git branch 2>/dev/null |
           sed -n '/^\*/s/^\* //p' |
                sed -r 's:(\+|\*|\$):\\\1:g'
    )\s+" || {
        echo >&2 "Current branch need a 'git pull' before commit"
        exit 1
}

It's very convenient to put it as a Git hook pre-commit to avoid

Merge branch 'foobar' of url:/path/to/git/foobar into foobar

when you commit before pulling.

To use this code as a hook, simply copy/paste the script in

.git/hooks/pre-commit

and

chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit