Git Concepts

Internal

• Git

Names in Git

Reference

References available in a remote repository can be listed with git ls-remote.

Local Repository

The repository maintained on a local filesystem that is currently interacted with is called the local or current repository.

Remote Repository

A repository maintained on a remote host, but with which files are exchanged, is called a remote repository. The references available in a remote repository can be listed with git ls-remote.

Remote

A remote is named entity whose definition is maintained in .git/config that represents a reference to a remote repository. The remote can be seen as a short name for a long URL and other configuration information.

[remote "origin"]
       url = git@github.com:NovaOrdis/events-api.git
       fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

The 'url' is the URL of the remote repository. 'fetch' is a refspec where:

__"url"__ is obviously the URL of the remote repository. For more on Git URLs see [Names in Git#GitURLs].

__"fetch"__ is a refspec that specifies how a local ref (which usually represents a branch) is mapped from the namespace of the source repository into the namespace of our repository. The content of these branches will be transferred when [git fetch#Internals] is executed. For more on refspecs, see [NamesInGit#Refspecs]. Instead of specifying * that signifies all branches, you can list individual branches there:

{{{

    ...
    fetch = +refs/heads/dev:refs/remotes/origin/dev
    fetch = +refs/heads/stable:refs/remotes/origin/stable
    ...

}}}

These definitions can be manipulated with [git config#RemoteManipulation].

The remote is used in assembling the full name for the [tracking branches|GitConcepts#TrackingBranch], also declared in .git/config.

Remotes can be created, removed and manipulated with [git remote].

!Origin

The "origin" is a special remote that refers to the repository the current repository was cloned from. The name "origin" is just a default value and it can be changed if so desired with --origin option of the [git clone] operation.