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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-30T00:37:24+00:00

I don’t understand the logic behind creating FETCH_HEADs in some cases – example: $

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I don’t understand the logic behind creating FETCH_HEADs in some cases – example:

$ git --version
git version 1.7.2.5

$ git fetch aarep       
From ../aa
 * [new branch]      master     -> aarep/master
 * [new branch]      skin       -> aarep/skin
## Fair enough, creating FETCH_HEADs here wouldn't help


$ git fetch aarep master
From ../aa
 * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
## Instead of creating a remote tracker, git creates a FETCH_HEAD. No problem.

$ git fetch aarep master skin
From ../aa
 * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
 * branch            skin       -> FETCH_HEAD
## What's the point of creating FETCH_HEADs here - only one would survive ?!
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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Have a look at the contents of FETCH_HEAD after your last example. Both refs are there, perhaps something like:

    b0d66b5110faaeb395610ba43b6eb70a18ab5e25        branch 'master' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git
a9004c5cb2204cf950debab328e86de5eefb9da4        branch 'next' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git

    It’s not overwritten.

    For what it’s worth, here’s a use of this functionality in git-pull, which is implemented as a shell script:

    merge_head=$(sed -e '/  not-for-merge   /d' \
    -e 's/  .*//' "$GIT_DIR"/FETCH_HEAD | \
    tr '\012' ' ')
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