Difference between git checkout –track origin/branch and git checkout -b branch origin/branch

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The two commands have the same effect (thanks to Robert Siemer’s answer for pointing it out).

The practical difference comes when using a local branch named differently:

  • git checkout -b mybranch origin/abranch will create mybranch and track origin/abranch
  • git checkout --track origin/abranch will only create ‘abranch‘, not a branch with a different name.

(That is, as commented by Sebastian Graf, if the local branch did not exist already.
If it did, you would need git checkout -B abranch origin/abranch)

Note: with Git 2.23 (Q3 2019), that would use the new command git switch:

git switch -c <branch> --track <remote>/<branch>

If the branch exists in multiple remotes and one of them is named by the checkout.defaultRemote configuration variable, we’ll use that one for the purposes of disambiguation, even if the <branch> isn’t unique across all remotes.
Set it to e.g. checkout.defaultRemote=origin to always checkout remote branches from there if <branch> is ambiguous but exists on the ‘origin’ remote.

Here, ‘-c‘ is the new ‘-b‘.

First, some background: Tracking means that a local branch has its upstream set to a remote branch:

# git config branch.<branch-name>.remote origin
# git config branch.<branch-name>.merge refs/heads/branch

git checkout -b branch origin/branch will:

  • create/reset branch to the point referenced by origin/branch.
  • create the branch branch (with git branch) and track the remote tracking branch origin/branch.

When a local branch is started off a remote-tracking branch, Git sets up the branch (specifically the branch.<name>.remote and branch.<name>.merge configuration entries) so that git pull will appropriately merge from the remote-tracking branch.
This behavior may be changed via the global branch.autosetupmerge configuration flag. That setting can be overridden by using the --track and --no-track options, and changed later using git branch --set-upstream-to.

And git checkout --track origin/branch will do the same as git branch --set-upstream-to):

 # or, since 1.7.0
 git branch --set-upstream upstream/branch branch
 # or, since 1.8.0 (October 2012)
 git branch --set-upstream-to upstream/branch branch
 # the short version remains the same:
 git branch -u upstream/branch branch

It would also set the upstream for ‘branch‘.

(Note: git1.8.0 will deprecate git branch --set-upstream and replace it with git branch -u|--set-upstream-to: see git1.8.0-rc1 announce)

Having an upstream branch registered for a local branch will:

  • tell git to show the relationship between the two branches in git status and git branch -v.
  • directs git pull without arguments to pull from the upstream when the new branch is checked out.

See “How do you make an existing git branch track a remote branch?” for more.

More Related Contents:

  1. How to remove local (untracked) files from the current Git working tree
  2. Make an existing Git branch track a remote branch?
  3. How do you create a remote Git branch?
  4. How to get the current branch name in Git?
  5. Branch from a previous commit using Git
  6. Can I recover a branch after its deletion in Git?
  7. Default behavior of “git push” without a branch specified
  8. How to fetch all Git branches
  9. How to get just one file from another branch?
  10. How is a tag different from a branch in Git? Which should I use, here?
  11. Show just the current branch in Git
  12. Using Git, show all commits that are in one branch, but not the other(s)
  13. How do I get the current branch name in Git?
  14. How do I fetch all Git branches?
  15. How do I create a remote Git branch?
  16. View a file in a different Git branch without changing branches
  17. How to determine when a Git branch was created?
  18. How do I remove local (untracked) files from the current Git working tree?
  19. Creating a new empty branch for a new project
  20. git: Switch branch and ignore any changes without committing
  21. What is the difference between “git branch” and “git checkout -b”?
  22. Git undo local branch delete
  23. Switch Git branch without files checkout
  24. Switch branch and ignore any changes without committing
  25. `git fetch` a remote branch
  26. How do I list all remote branches in Git 1.7+?
  27. Git: Merge a Remote branch locally
  28. How do I run git log to see changes only for a specific branch?
  29. How to ‘git pull’ into a branch that is not the current one?
  30. Git: How to list commits on this branch but not from merged branches

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