Git: Cannot see new remote branch

Question

A colleague pushed a new remote branch to origin/dev/homepage and I cannot see it when I run:

$ git branch -r

I still see preexisting remote branches.

I assume this is because my local remote refs are not up-to-date hence when I ran a git pull nothing happened since git pull only pulls on the current working branch correct? Unlike git push which pushes all branches that have changes to the corresponding remote branch?

Answer 1

First, double check that the branch has been actually pushed remotely, by using the command git ls-remote origin. If the new branch appears in the output, try and give the command git fetch: it should download the branch references from the remote repository.

If your remote branch still does not appear, double check (in the ls-remote output) what is the branch name on the remote and, specifically, if it begins with refs/heads/. This is because, by default, the value of remote.<name>.fetch is:

+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

so that only the remote references whose name starts with refs/heads/ will be mapped locally as remote-tracking references under refs/remotes/origin/ (i.e., they will become remote-tracking branches)

Answer 2

Check whether .git/config contains

[remote "origin"]
    url = …
    fetch = +refs/heads/master:refs/remotes/origin/master

If so, change it to say

[remote "origin"]
    url = …
    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

Then you should be able to use it:

$ git fetch
remote: Counting objects: …
remote: Compressing objects: ..
Unpacking objects: …
remote: …
From …
 * [new branch]            branchname -> origin/branchname
$ git checkout branchname
Branch branchname set up to track remote branch branchname from origin.
Switched to a new branch 'branchname'

Answer 3

I have got the same problem sometimes.

The simplest answer is:

git fetch origin <branch_name>

Answer 4

Doing a git remote update will also update the list of branches available from the remote repository.

If you are using TortoiseGit, as of version 1.8.3.0, you can do "Git -> Sync" and there will be a "Remote Update" button in the lower left of the window that appears. Click that. Then you should be able to do "Git -> Switch/Checkout" and have the new remote branch appear in the dropdown of branches you can select.

Answer 5

It sounds trivial, but my issue was that I wasn't in the right project. Make sure you are in the project you expect to be in; otherwise, you won't be able to pull down the correct branches.

Answer 6

What ended up finally working for me was to add the remote repository name to the git fetch command, like this:

git fetch core

Now you can see all of them like this:

git branch --all

Answer 7

I used brute force and removed the remote and then added it

git remote rm <remote>
git remote add <url or ssh>