Git branches: tracking upstream

Question

I don't know if I'm misusing Git, or if I've got a configuration problem.

I clone my Github repos onto machine A and B, then on machine A I do:

git checkout -b branchA
// make edits
git add .
git commit -am "initial"
git push

then on machine B I do:

git pull
git checkout branchA
// make edits
git commit -am "edits"
git push

on machine A I then do:

git pull

However it says:

There is no tracking information for the current branch

so I have to do:

git branch --set-upstream branchA origin/branchA

Why do I have to set the upstream, when it originally pushed it to origin/branchA without problem?

I'm using msygit 1.8. on Windows.

P.S. when i do the pull on machine B, why isnt the new branch branchA tracked by default? git branch doesnt show it (but it does with -r). Can I make all new remote branches be tracked by default when i pull?

Answer 1

since git config push.default doesn't return anything, that means, with "git 1.8.0.msysgit.0", your git push means git push origin :, with the refspec ':' standing for "matching" branch.

Here it creates a matching branchA on the remote side.

But that doesn't make it a remote tracking branch.
In other word, branch.branchA.merge isn't set to anything.
This is why the git pull fails: it doesn't know what remote branch it is supposed to merge to local branchA.

---

Note, your first git push should have displayed the following message:

warning: push.default is unset; its implicit value is changing in
Git 2.0 from 'matching' to 'simple'. To squelch this message
and maintain the current behavior after the default changes, use:

  git config --global push.default matching

To squelch this message and adopt the new behavior now, use:

  git config --global push.default simple

See 'git help config' and search for 'push.default' for further information.
(the 'simple' mode was introduced in Git 1.7.11. Use the similar mode
'current' instead of 'simple' if you sometimes use older versions of Git)

So, with Git2.0, that git push will fail.
The only way to push branchA will be by setting explicitly its upstream branch (using the same name):

git push -u origin branchA