Managing Remotes

Frequently, developers may Clone a remote repository, and will always pull or push new commits and branches in your local repository only to this remote (with a default name of origin).

However, there are times when you will need to perform more advanced interactions with remotes, e.g.:

• If the location of the remote repository changes
• If you wish your local repository to track multiple remote repositories
• If you wish to change the protocol, e.g. between SSH and HTTPS
• If you wish to remove references to a remote repository

The following commands are available from the Remote menu:

• Add allows you to add another tracked remote for your local repository.
• Rename allows you to change the local name of an existing remote.
• Delete removes the selected remote from the local repository configuration.
• Properties lets you edit the URL and related settings for an existing remote.
• Fetch More lets you fetch additional remote branches which are not yet available locally.
• Set Depth deepens a shallow remote fetch configuration.

The Rename and Delete remote commands are also available from the Branches view of the Log Window or Standard Window.

Adding a remote

Use Remote | Add to open the Add Remote Repository dialog.

Specify:

• URL or Path for the remote repository.
• Name for the local remote entry.
• Verify repository connection if SmartGit should test the entered location before adding it.

The URL or Path field also offers a popup to select a local repository or a repository from a configured hosting provider. This is useful when you do not want to type the URL manually.

If you have cloned a fork of a GitHub repository (for simple remote setups) SmartGit will detect the original repository and suggests to add at as upstream repository.

Editing remote properties

Use Remote | Properties to adjust an existing remote.

The dialog always shows the main URL or Path. Depending on the remote configuration, it may also show Push URL. Use Push URL if fetches and pushes should go to different locations.

Some remotes also offer Perform background Poll or Fetch. Use this when you want SmartGit’s background Poll or Fetch behavior for this remote to be enabled or disabled explicitly.

Fetching additional refs

Use Remote | Fetch More if a remote contains branches which are not yet available in the local repository. This command is especially relevant after a narrow clone where Fetch all Heads and Tags had been disabled.

For a shallow repository, the dialog can also offer Fetch all commits for existing branches (“unshallow”). Otherwise, select one or more additional branches to fetch.

Changing shallow depth

Use Remote | Set Depth to fetch a specific depth for the selected remote. Enter the desired Depth in commits. A very large value effectively removes the practical depth limit.

Selecting a remote

When SmartGit cannot infer the intended remote, it shows a small selector dialog with a Remote field. This is only a chooser. It does not change repository configuration by itself.