Visual Studio Tools for GIT - FETCH / PUBLISH vs PULL / PUSH

Question

I like using the CLI for interacting with GIT but I'm trying to understand the VS Tools for Git extension for the benefit of some team members who would prefer not to 'CLI'.

The UI for VS Tools for Git extension has actions labeled FETCH and PUBLISH which sound like PULL and PUSH, but there are other actions within the UI that are labeled PULL and PUSH so that guess is weak.

So far, I don't think my confusion is with Git but rather with the Git tools for VS. I can do what I need to accomplish in the CLI, but I don't ever recall doing a FETCH or a PUBLISH action.

I'm somewhat new to Git but are these terms FETCH and PUBLISH even part of the Git vernacular?

Answer 1

Fetch, pull and push are all standard Git commands. Type git help fetch, etc. from a console Window for the in-depth details, but it boils down to this:

• fetch: bring in changes without merging them
• pull: bring in changes and do merge them
• push: send out your changes.

Publish is more interesting. Microsoft is expecting people to work in feature branches, but to merge those back in to the master branch before pushing (i.e. only share the end result with others, rather than cluttering up their repositories with short-lived branches). The Publish command lets you select branches that you do want to share with other users. See the Microsoft docs for further details.