Local branches can be replicated in a remote.
Pushing a copy of a local branches to the corresponding remote repo makes those branches available remotely.
In a previous lesson, we saw how to push the default branch to a remote repository and have Git set up tracking between the local and remote branches using a remote-tracking reference. Pushing any other local branch to a remote works the same way as pushing the default branch — you simply specify the target branch instead of the default branch. Pushing any new commits in any local branch to a corresponding remote branch is done similarly as well.
gitGraph BT:
%%{init: { 'theme': 'default', 'gitGraph': {'mainBranchName': 'master'}} }%%
commit id: "m1"
branch bug-fix
checkout master
commit id: "[origin/master][HEAD → master] m2"
checkout bug-fix
commit id: "[bug-fix] b1"
checkout master
[bug-fix branch does not exist in the remote origin]
→
gitGraph BT:
%%{init: { 'theme': 'default', 'gitGraph': {'mainBranchName': 'master'}} }%%
commit id: "m1"
branch bug-fix
checkout master
commit id: "[origin/master][HEAD → master] m2"
checkout bug-fix
commit id: "[origin/bug-fix][bug-fix] b1"
checkout master
[after pushing bug-fix branch to origin,
and setting up a remote-tracking branch]
1 Fork the samplerepo-company to your GitHub account. When doing so, un-tick the Copy the master branch only option.
After forking, go to the fork and ensure both branches (master, and track-sales) are in there.
2 Clone the fork to your computer. It should look something like this:
gitGraph BT:
%%{init: { 'theme': 'default', 'gitGraph': {'mainBranchName': 'master'}} }%%
commit id: "m1"
commit id: "m2"
branch track-sales
checkout track-sales
commit id: "[origin/track-sales] s1"
checkout master
commit id: "[origin/master][origin/HEAD][HEAD → master] m3"
The origin/HEAD remote-tracking ref indicates where the HEAD ref is in the remote origin.
3 Create a new branch hiring, and add a commit to that branch. The commit can contain any changes you want.
Here are the commands you can run in the terminal to do this step in on shot:
git switch -c hiring
echo "Receptionist: Pam" >> employees.txt
git commit -am "Add Pam to employees.txt"
gitGraph BT:
%%{init: { 'theme': 'default', 'gitGraph': {'mainBranchName': 'master'}} }%%
commit id: "m1"
commit id: "m2"
branch track-sales
checkout track-sales
commit id: "[origin/track-sales] s1"
checkout master
commit id: "[origin/master][origin/HEAD][master] m3"
branch hiring
checkout hiring
commit id: "[HEAD → hiring] h1"
The resulting revision graph should look like the one above.
4 Push the hiring branch to the remote.
You can use the usual git push <remote> -u <branch> command to push the branch to the remote, and set up a remote-tracking branch at the same time.
git push origin -u hiring
5 Verify the branch has been pushed to the remote by visiting the fork on GitHub, and looking for the origin/hiring remote-tracking ref in the local repo.