Git: How to check if a local repo is up to date?

Question

I would like to know if my local repo is up to date (and if not, ideally, I would like to see the changes).

How could I check this without doing git fetch or git pull ?

Answer 1

Try git fetch --dry-run The manual (git help fetch) says:

--dry-run Show what would be done, without making any changes. 

Answer 2

First use git remote update, to bring your remote refs up to date. Then you can do one of several things, such as:

1. git status -uno will tell you whether the branch you are tracking is ahead, behind or has diverged. If it says nothing, the local and remote are the same. Sample result:

On branch DEV

Your branch is behind 'origin/DEV' by 7 commits, and can be fast-forwarded.

(use "git pull" to update your local branch)

2. git show-branch *master will show you the commits in all of the branches whose names end in 'master' (eg master and origin/master).

If you use -v with git remote update (git remote -v update) you can see which branches got updated, so you don't really need any further commands.