How can I see what changes have been made in a git repository without pulling it into my working tree

Question

For example, I could just git pull and then git checkout HEAD-1. But is there a way of seeing the differences before deciding whether to git pull or not?

Answer 1

Do a git fetch first to update your remote tracking branch. Then use git log ..origin to see what has changed in the "origin" branch. Then you can do a git pull if you are satisfied with the changes.