If you’re working on a project on GitHub, you might have come across the concept of forking a repository. Forking a repo allows you to make a copy of it in your own GitHub account, so that you can make changes to the code without affecting the original repository. However, as the original repository gets updated with new features and bug fixes, you’ll want to keep your forked repository up to date.
Updating your forked repo is important not only to stay in sync with the original project but also to ensure that the changes you make to your forked repo are based on the latest code. In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to update your forked repository using the GitHub interface and the command line.
Using the GitHub interface:
To update your forked repo using the GitHub interface, you can follow these simple steps:
- Navigate to your forked repository on GitHub.
- Click on the “Pull requests” tab.
- Click on the “New pull request” button.
- Select the original repository and the branch you want to merge with.
- Review the changes and click on the “Create pull request” button.
By following these steps, you’ll be able to create a new pull request that merges the changes from the original repository into your forked repository. Once the pull request is created, you can review any conflicts and resolve them if necessary before merging the changes.
Keep in mind that this method requires you to have write access to the original repository, or at least be able to create a fork of it.
Step-by-step guide
When you have forked a repository on GitHub, it’s important to regularly update your fork with the latest changes from the original repository. This ensures that your fork remains in sync and allows you to contribute to the original repository if needed.
Step 1: Clone your fork
First, you need to clone your forked repository to your local machine. Open your terminal or command prompt and navigate to the directory where you want to clone the repository. Then, run the following command:
git clone [url]Replace [url] with the HTTPS or SSH URL of your forked repository.
Step 2: Add the remote repository
Next, you need to add the original repository as a remote repository. This allows you to fetch the latest changes from the original repository. Run the following command:
git remote add upstream [url]Replace [url] with the HTTPS or SSH URL of the original repository.
Step 3: Fetch the latest changes
Now that you have added the upstream repository, you can fetch the latest changes. Run the following command:
git fetch upstreamThis command will retrieve all the branches and changes from the original repository.
Step 4: Merge the changes
After fetching the latest changes, you need to merge them into your local repository. Run the following command:
git merge upstream/mainThis command will merge the changes from the upstream repository’s main branch into your current branch.
Step 5: Push the changes
Finally, you need to push the merged changes to your forked repository on GitHub. Run the following command:
git push origin mainThis command will push the changes to your forked repository and update it with the latest changes from the original repository.
Now your forked repository is up to date with the latest changes from the original repository. You can continue working on your fork or contribute to the original repository by creating a pull request.
Why should you update your forked repo?
There are several reasons why it is important to regularly update your forked repository:
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Stay up-to-date with the original repository
By regularly updating your forked repository, you ensure that your codebase is in sync with the latest changes made to the original repository. This allows you to incorporate any bug fixes, new features, or improvements that have been made by the original repository’s maintainers into your own code.
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Contribute to the open-source community
If you’ve forked a repository as part of your participation in an open-source project, updating your forked repository allows you to stay in line with the community’s standards and contribute back to the project more effectively. By keeping your forked repository updated, you can easily submit pull requests and have them considered for merging into the original repository.
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Resolve conflicts and prevent code divergence
If you’re working on a collaborative project with other developers who have also forked the same repository, regularly updating your forked repository helps in preventing code divergence. Code divergence occurs when multiple developers make changes to the same codebase independently, leading to conflicts when trying to merge their changes. By updating your forked repository, you can better manage conflicts and keep your codebase in sync with others.
Overall, updating your forked repository is crucial to ensure that your codebase remains current, aligned with the community’s standards, and compatible with the latest updates made to the original repository.
Checking for updates
After you have forked a repository and made changes to your local copy, it’s important to regularly check for updates in the original repository. This ensures that your changes are always up to date with the latest changes made by the original repository’s owner or other contributors.
To check for updates, you can follow these steps:
- Navigate to the original repository’s page on GitHub.
- Click on the “Compare” button.
- Select your fork as the base fork.
- Select the branch that you have been working on.
- Click on the “Create pull request” button.
This will take you to the pull request page where you can compare the changes made in the original repository with your fork. If there are any new changes, you can review them and merge them into your fork if desired.
Alternatively, if you prefer to use the command line, you can run the following command in your local repository:
git remote add upstream <original_repository_url>
This adds the original repository as a remote called “upstream”. Then, you can run the following command to fetch the latest changes from the original repository:
git fetch upstream
This will update your local branch with the latest changes from the original repository. You can then merge these changes into your local branch using the appropriate Git commands.
By regularly checking for updates in the original repository, you can ensure that your forked repository is always up to date and avoid any conflicts or issues when merging your changes later on.
Syncing your forked repo with the original repo
When you fork a repository on GitHub, you create a copy of the original repository in your own GitHub account. However, the original repository can be updated with new commits and changes. To keep your forked repository up-to-date with the changes made to the original repository, you need to sync them. Here’s how you can do it:
Step 1: Open the terminal or command prompt on your local machine.
Step 2: Navigate to the local copy of your forked repository by using the cd command.
Step 3: Add the original repository as a remote upstream repository by using the following command:
git remote add upstream <original-repo-url>Replace <original-repo-url> with the URL of the original repository.
Step 4: Fetch the latest branches and commits from the original repository by using the following command:
git fetch upstreamThis command will retrieve all the changes made to the original repository.
Step 5: Merge the changes from the original repository into your local branch by using the following command:
git merge upstream/mainThis command will merge the changes from the main branch of the original repository into your current branch.
Step 6: Push the updated local branch to your forked repository on GitHub by using the following command:
git push origin <branch-name>Replace <branch-name> with the name of your branch.
After executing these steps, your forked repository should be synced with the original repository, and you will have all the latest changes.
Resolving conflicts
When updating a forked repository, conflicts may arise if there have been changes made to the original repository that conflict with the changes made in your forked repository. Resolving conflicts is an essential step in keeping your forked repository up to date.
Here is a step-by-step guide to resolving conflicts:
- Start by navigating to the local repository directory on your computer.
- Open a command prompt or terminal window in the repository directory.
- Fetch the changes from the original repository by running the following command:
git fetch upstream - Checkout the branch you want to update by running the following command:
git checkout branch-name - Merge the changes from the original repository into your local repository by running the following command:
git merge upstream/branch-name - If there are conflicts, Git will show you which files have conflicts. Open each file and resolve the conflicts manually by editing the file to include the changes you want to keep.
- After resolving the conflicts, save the file.
- Add the resolved file to the staging area by running the following command:
git add file-name - Continue this process for each file with conflicts until all conflicts are resolved.
- Once all conflicts are resolved, commit the changes by running the following command:
git commit -m "Resolved conflicts" - Finally, push the changes to your forked repository by running the following command:
git push origin branch-name
By following these steps, you can successfully update your forked repository and resolve any conflicts that may arise during the process.
Pushing changes to GitHub
After making changes to your forked repository, you need to push those changes to your fork on GitHub. This will update your repository with the latest changes you made locally.
Step 1: Add the changes
Before pushing the changes, you need to add them to the staging area. You can do this by using the git add command followed by the file(s) you want to add. For example, to add all changes, you can use the command git add ..
Step 2: Commit the changes
After adding the changes, you need to commit them. A commit is a record of the changes you made with a corresponding message explaining the changes. You can use the git commit -m "Your commit message" command to commit the changes.
Step 3: Push the changes
Once the changes are committed, you can push them to your fork on GitHub using the git push command. By default, this command will push your changes to the remote repository associated with your current branch.
If you are pushing to a forked repository, you may need to specify the remote repository and branch. You can use the command git push remote-name branch-name to push the changes to the specified remote repository and branch. For example, git push origin main.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
git add . |
Adds all changes to the staging area |
git commit -m "Your commit message" |
Commits the changes with a commit message |
git push remote-name branch-name |
Pushes the changes to the specified remote repository and branch |
By following these steps, you can push your changes to your forked repository on GitHub and keep it up-to-date with the latest changes.
