When working with a forked repository, there may come a time when you want to pull the latest changes from the original repository into your fork. This is a common scenario when you want to stay up to date with any changes or improvements that have been made to the original project. In this article, we will explore the steps required to pull changes from a forked repository.
Step 1: Check the remote configuration
Before pulling the changes, it’s important to make sure that your forked repository is properly configured to track the original repository. To do this, open the command line or terminal and navigate to your forked repository’s local directory. Then, run the following command to view the remote configuration:
git remote -v
This will display a list of the remote repositories associated with your fork. You should see two remotes listed: origin and upstream. The origin remote points to your forked repository, while the upstream remote points to the original repository. If you don’t see an upstream remote, you’ll need to add it using the following command:
git remote add upstream [URL of the original repository]
Step 2: Fetch the latest changes
After verifying the remote configuration, the next step is to fetch the latest changes from the original repository. To do this, run the following command:
git fetch upstream
This command will retrieve all the latest changes from the original repository, but it will not merge them into your forked repository.
What is a forked repo
A forked repo is a copy of a repository (or “repo”) that is made by another user on a code hosting platform, such as GitHub. When a user forks a repo, they create a personal copy of the original repo under their own account. This allows the user to freely experiment and make changes to the code without affecting the original repo.
Creating a forked repo is generally done when a user wants to contribute to someone else’s project. They can make changes to their forked repo and, if they desire, they can submit those changes back to the original repo owner through a pull request. This allows the original repo owner to review the changes and potentially merge them into the original repo.
Why fork a repo?
There are several reasons why someone might choose to fork a repo:
- Contributing to an open-source project: Forking a repo allows individuals to submit their proposed changes to the original repo owner for review and potential inclusion in the project.
- Creating a personal copy: Forking a repo allows users to have their own version of a project that they can freely modify and experiment with without affecting the original repo.
- Borrowing code: Forking a repo can also be done to borrow or reuse code from an existing project as a starting point for a new project.
Overall, forking a repo provides a way for users to collaborate, contribute, or customize existing codebases, while maintaining the separation and integrity of the original repo.
Why you might need to pull changes from a forked repo
When you fork a repository on a version control platform like GitHub, you create a copy of the original repository in your own account. This allows you to make changes to the codebase without affecting the original project. However, there may be situations where you need to incorporate the changes made in the original repository into your forked version.
Here are some reasons why you might need to pull changes from a forked repo:
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1. Staying up to date with the original project: If you want to keep your forked repo in sync with the original repository, pulling changes is essential. This ensures you have the latest bug fixes, new features, and improvements made by the original project’s maintainers. |
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2. Collaborating with the original project: If you are contributing to the original project, you may need to pull changes from the main repository to ensure your forked version includes the latest updates. This allows you to make your contributions on top of the most recent codebase.  My Three Franks
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3. Resolving conflicts: There might be situations where you and the original project’s maintainers make changes to the same code files concurrently. When you try to merge your changes with theirs, conflicts may arise. Pulling changes helps you identify and resolve these conflicts, ensuring a smooth integration of the changes. |
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4. Access to new features and improvements: If the original project introduces new features, improvements, or optimizations, you may want to incorporate them into your forked repo. Pulling changes allows you to benefit from these updates without having to manually implement them yourself. |
Overall, pulling changes from a forked repository is crucial for staying up to date, collaborating effectively, resolving conflicts, and taking advantage of new features. It streamlines your workflow and ensures that your forked version remains relevant and compatible with the original project.
Steps to pull changes from a forked repo
When you fork a repository, you create your own copy of the project that you can freely modify. However, you may want to pull changes made to the original repository into your forked version. Here are the steps to do so:
1. Open your forked repository on GitHub.
2. Click on the “Compare & pull request” button located near the top of the repository page.
3. If there are any changes made to the original repository that you haven’t pulled yet, you will see a message like “This branch is XX commits behind original-repo:master. Pull request #XX.” Click on the “XX commits behind” or “Pull request #XX” link.
4. On the next page, you will see a list of changes made to the original repository. Review them carefully to ensure that you want to include those changes in your forked version.
5. If you are happy with the changes, click on the “Create pull request” button.
6. On the next page, you will see the pull request details. Click on the “Merge pull request” button to merge the changes into your forked repository.
7. After the changes have been merged, go back to your forked repository page on GitHub.
8. Click on the “Fetch upstream” button located near the top of the repository page. This will update your local copy of the repository with the changes you just pulled.
Now you have successfully pulled the changes from the original repository into your forked version. You can continue working on your forked repository with the latest changes included.
Step 1: Clone the forked repo
Before you can pull changes from a forked repo, you need to clone it to your local machine. Cloning creates a copy of the repository on your computer so you can make changes and manage them locally.
To clone the forked repo, follow these steps:
- On GitHub, navigate to the main page of the forked repo.
- Click on the “Code” button to open the repository cloning options.
- Copy the provided URL, which is the link to the forked repo.
- Open your terminal or command prompt on your local machine.
- Navigate to the directory where you want to clone the repo by using the
cdcommand. - Once you’re in the desired directory, run the command
git clonefollowed by the URL you copied. It should look something like this:git clone https://github.com/your-username/forked-repo.git. - Press enter to execute the command, and Git will clone the forked repo to your local machine.
Now that you have successfully cloned the forked repo, you can proceed to the next step to pull the changes from the original repo into your local copy.
Step 2: Add the original repo as a remote
After forking a repository on GitHub, you will have your own copy of the repository. However, if you want to pull changes from the original repository, you need to add it as a remote. Adding the original repo as a remote will allow you to fetch any new changes made to the original repository and merge them into your forked repository.
To add the original repository as a remote, you can use the following command in your terminal or command prompt:
git remote add upstream [original repository URL]Replace [original repository URL] with the URL of the original repository. You can find the URL by visiting the original repository on GitHub and clicking the “Clone or download” button. Make sure you select the “Clone with HTTPS” option and copy the URL.
Example:
If the original repository URL is https://github.com/originalrepo/example.git, you can add it as a remote using the following command:
git remote add upstream https://github.com/originalrepo/example.gitAfter adding the original repository as a remote, you can use the git fetch upstream command to fetch any new changes made to the original repository. You can then merge these changes into your forked repository using the git merge upstream/master command.
Step 3: Fetch the latest changes from the original repo
Now that you have set up your forked repo and added the remote upstream, it’s time to fetch the latest changes from the original repo. This will help you keep your forked repo up to date, so you can stay in sync with any changes made by the original repo’s owner or other contributors.
To fetch the latest changes, you can use the following command:
- First, navigate to your local forked repo directory using the command line or terminal.
- Next, type
git fetch upstreamand hit enter. This command will fetch any new commits from the original repo and store them in a separate branch calledupstream/master.
Once the fetch is complete, you can merge the changes into your local branch using the following command:
- Type
git checkout your-branch-nameand hit enter. This will switch to your desired branch. - Next, type
git merge upstream/masterand hit enter. This will merge the fetched changes from the original repo into your local branch. - If there are no conflicts, the changes will be merged successfully. If there are conflicts, you will need to resolve them manually before completing the merge.
After merging the changes, you can push the updated code to your forked repo using the command git push origin your-branch-name. This will update your forked repo with the latest changes from the original repo.
By regularly fetching and merging the latest changes from the original repo, you can ensure that your forked repo remains up to date and in sync with the main project.
