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This article outlines the differences between the git merge origin/masterand git pullcommands. These two commands integrate changes from a remote repository into the current local branch.

However, each command's operation is unique and has different use cases, which we will discuss shortly. If you are new to Git and having difficulty using these two commands, this is the right place to start.

Difference between git merge origin/master and git pull

We will start by dissecting each command to draw out the key differences. Let's start with the git pull command.

git pull command

According to the Git documentation, by default git pullthe command is a combination of two commands.

git pushThe command will fetch changes from the remote repository and call git mergethe command to merge Fetch_HEAD into the checked out local branch.

In simple terms, Fetch_HEAD is a reference that keeps track of what has been fetched. It stores the commit that is at the tip of all remote branches.

git pullThe command requires that your local branch has a remote-tracking branch. A remote-tracking branch is a branch in the remote repository from which your local branch pulls changes and to which your local branch pushes changes.

The command itself will fail if you don't have a remote-tracking branch set up for your local branch git pull. In this case, you will have to specify a remote branch.

git merge origin/master command

git merge origin/masterIntegrate changes from the remote mastergit merge origin/master branch into the current branch. The command itself does not affect local branches.

You need to run the command first git fetchbecause your local repository is not aware of the changes in the remote repository.

In combination with git fetchthe -p command, git merge origin/masterthe -p command works similarly to git pullthe -p command. However, it does not require a remote-tracking branch.

Assume this scenario:

In our repository we have master branch. We create a develop branch where we make edits, merge them to the master branch and push them to the remote repository.

Other developers working on the same project follow the same workflow.

We have new changes in the remote master branch, and we want to bring the changes directly to our development branch without updating the master branch. How can we do this?

Since our local development branch has no remote tracking branch, git pullthe command will not work.

We have to fetch the changes from the remote repository and merge them directly into the development branch. This is git merge origin/masterwhere the command comes into play.

To fetch from remote we would run:

$ git fetch

请注意, which will only download the changes but will not update anything. To merge the changes into our development branch we would run:

$ git merge origin/master

On the other hand, if we are checked out in the local mastergit pull branch, the command will work and update the master branch.

We use git pullthe merge command to integrate changes into our local branch, provided that branch has a remote tracking branch. git merge origin/masterThe merge command, on the other hand, merges the changes from the remote master branch into the current local branch.

Before invoking the command, you need to fetch from the remote repository.