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What is Origin (or Remote Head) in Git? The word origin is an alias that Git created to replace the remote URL of a remote repository. It represents the default branch on a remote and is a local ref representing a local copy of the HEAD in the remote repository.
In Git, "origin" is a shorthand name for the remote repository that a project was originally cloned from. More precisely, it is used instead of that original repository's URL - and thereby makes referencing much easier. Note that origin is by no means a "magical" name, but just a standard convention.
When working with Git, only one branch can be checked out at a time - and this is what's called the "HEAD" branch. Often, this is also referred to as the "active" or "current" branch. Git makes note of this current branch in a file located inside the Git repository, in .
Git push origin is usually used only where there are multiple remote repositories and you want to specify which remote repository should be used for the push. For a git push origin command: git push command updates remote references using local references by sending objects necessary to complete the given references.
@robinst is correct.
In git, you can select which branch is checked out by default (i.e. when you clone). By default, origin/HEAD will point at that.
On GitHub, You can change this in the Admin settings for your GitHub repo. You can also do it from the command-line via
git remote set-head origin trunk
or delete it altogether via
git remote set-head origin -d
Example. Look at the 'Switch Branches' drop-down. trunk is checked, so origin/HEAD follows trunk.
The reason a bare repository can have a HEAD, is that because it determines which branch is initially checked out after a clone of the repository.
Normally, HEAD points to master, and that is the branch that is checked out when people clone the repository. Setting it to another branch (by editing HEAD in the bare repository) results in that branch being checked out on clone.
I was under the impression that dedicated remote repos (like GitHub where no one will ssh in and work on that code, but only pull or push, etc) didn't and shouldn't have a HEAD because there was, basically, no working copy. Not so?
I had the exact same impression like you said.
And I even can not delete that origin/HEAD remote-tracking branch cloned from github by doing
git branch -d -r origin/HEAD
This had no effect.
Can some one tell me how I can delete that origin/HEAD remote-tracking branch?
Though I did not found why there is a origin/HEAD created when clone from github, I find a way to delete it.
The new version of git provide
git remote set-head <name> -d
to delete the useless HEAD pointer of remote-tracking branch.
And we can also change the dumb default name 'origin' to whatever we want by using
git remote rename origin <new_name>
Hope this can help. :)
You're right that pushing to dedicated remote repos work much better when they are 'bare', that is, when they don't have working directories. Git's architecture is designed for updating by patches or pull (fetch), which makes sense in a distributed VCS. As the docs say somewhere, pushing to a branch which is currently checked out can result in "unexpected results".
The HEAD is part of the requirements for a valid repository. Git Repository Layout says, in part:
HEAD
A symref (see glossary) to the refs/heads/ namespace describing the currently active
branch. It does not mean much if the repository is not associated with any working tree
(i.e. a bare repository), but a valid git repository must have the HEAD file; some
porcelains may use it to guess the designated "default" branch of the repository
(usually master). It is legal if the named branch name does not (yet) exist.
So you're going to see HEAD as part of the branch list, even if "it does not mean much..."
If "origin" is a remote repository, then origin/HEAD identifies the default branch on that remote repository.
Example:
$ git remote show
origin
$ git remote show origin
* remote origin
Fetch URL: [email protected]:walkerh/pipe-o-matic.git
Push URL: [email protected]:walkerh/pipe-o-matic.git
HEAD branch: master
Remote branch:
master tracked
Local branch configured for 'git pull':
master merges with remote master
Local ref configured for 'git push':
master pushes to master (fast-forwardable)
Note the line that says "HEAD branch: master". This is where the remote repository lets clients know which branch to checkout by default.
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