If you try to do a pull by just saying<code> git pull </code>
and git complains that you have not specified a
branch, try:
<pre>
git config branch.master.remote origin
git config branch.master.merge master
</pre>
Otherwise, you have to say<code> git pull origin master </code>
each time you do a pull.
</p>
<li>Small changes to master
<p>
If you are an experienced git user working on substancial modifications,
you are probably
working on a separate branch and would rebase your branch prior to
merging with master.
But for small changes to the master branch itself,
you also need to use the rebase feature in order to avoid an
unnecessary and distracting branch in master.
</p>
<p>
If it has been awhile since you've done the initial clone, try
<pre>
git pull
</pre>
to get the latest files before you start working.
</p>
<p>
Make your changes and use
<pre>
git add <files to commit>
git commit
</pre>
to get your changes ready to push back into the fd.o repository.
</p>
<p>
It is possible (and likely) that someone has changed master since
you did your last pull. Even if your changes do not conflict with
their changes, git will make a fast-forward
merge branch, branching from the point in time
where you did your last pull and merging it to a point after the other changes.
</p>
<p>
To avoid this,
<pre>
git pull --rebase
git push
</pre>
If you are familiar with CVS or similar system, this is similar to doing a
<code> cvs update </code> in order to update your source tree to
the current repository state, instead of the time you did the last update.
(CVS doesn't work like git in this respect, but this is easiest way
to explain it.)
</br>
In any case, your repository now looks like you made your changes after
all the other changes.
</p>
<p>
If the rebase resulted in conflicts or changes that could affect
the proper operation of your changes, you'll need to investigate
those before doing the push.
</p>
<p>
If you want the rebase action to be the default action, then
<pre>
git config branch.master.rebase true
git config --global branch.autosetuprebase=always
</pre>
<p>
See <ahref="http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~cduan/technical/git/"target="_parent">Understanding Git Conceptually</a> for a fairly clear explanation about all of this.
