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This article will discuss why git pullthe command fails to update files in the local repository with files in the remote repository.

git pullFeatures can malfunction for a number of reasons. We'll look at common causes and how to fix them.

git pullFile not updated due to missing information

When Git doesn't have enough information to work with, you may receive an error message like the following.

$ git pull
There is no tracking information for the current branch.
Please specify which branch you want to merge with.
See git-pull(1) for details.
    git pull <remote> <branch>
If you wish to set tracking information for this branch you can do so with:
    git branch --set-upstream-to=<remote>/<branch> master

If you get a message like this, Git will ask you to specify a remote branch to track your current local branch. Use the git-remote branch git branch --set-upstream-to=<remote>/<branch> mastercommand, then run git pullthe git-remote branch command to point Git to the source you wish your changes to.

git pullNot updating files due to uncommitted files in local repo

As a source code management system, Git does its best to prevent you from losing files and data. For this reason, Git may git pullrefuse to merge your local files with files in the remote repository when executing commands.

Since Git doesn't have forced git pulla command that you can invoke on the system to merge changes, you may get an error message like the one below if you have uncommitted changes.

$ git pull
From REPOSITORY_URL
 * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
   a152b19..171e4a2  master     -> origin/master
Updating a152b19..171e4a2
error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge:
  file1.txt
  file2.txt
Please commit your changes or stash them before you merge.
Aborting

To fix this, git pullrun git stashthe command to stash your local changes before running the git commit command.

The final step is git pullto run the after command git stash apply. This command will apply the stashed changes to your working directory.

$ git stash
Saved working directory and index state WIP on master: d91368b Previous commit message
$ git pull
From REPOSITORY_URL
 * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
   a152b19..171e4a2  master     -> origin/master
Updating a152b19..171e4a2
Fast-forward
 file1.txt | 1 +
 file2.txt | 1 +
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(++)
$ git stash apply

You can also git pullcommit your changes before running the command.

$ git commit -am 'Committing two files before git-pull'
[master d91368b] Committing two files before git-pull
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(++)
$ git pull
From REPOSITORY_URL
 * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
   a152b19..171e4a2  master     -> origin/master
Updating a152b19..171e4a2
Fast-forward
 file1.txt | 1 +
 file2.txt | 1 +
 2 files changed, 2 insertions(++)

If you don't need your local changes, you can git pulldiscard them before running the command.

You can discard untracked files using git rest --hardthe _discard and _discard commands. Make sure you don't need these changes, as you can't undo the discard.git clean -fd