GitHub: keeping in sync with the upstream repository
To keep in sync with or update from the upstream repository, the upstream repository must be available as additional Remote:
- when freshly cloning a repository from GitHub, SmartGit will ask you whether to add the upstream repository as additional remote, as part of the Clone wizard
- to manually add the Remote, use Remote|Add in the main window,
enter the URL to the upstream repository and call it
upstream.
Merging from upstream
To incorporate changes from the upstream repository, invoke Pull and
select to Fetch From upstream. This will update your upstream/*
refs. To review the changes, you may open the Log and
toggle upstream in the Branches view.
You may now use Merge, Rebase or Cherry-Pick to incorporate upstream changes into your local branch.
Updating upstream
To push changes from your current branch directly to the upstream
repository (instead of the remote repository origin), just invoke
Push and select the upstream remote.
To update all branches in upstream from your remote repository,
first Pull your remote repository (usually origin) to make sure
you will have the latest commits present. Now select origin in the
Branches view, right-click and invoke Push To. For Target
Repository, select upstream here.
Warning
Do not use Force pushing nor Remove remote branches which don’t have a local counterpart unless you are the owner of the
upstreamrepository and you are aware of the consequences.