Keeping Your Branch Up to Date with the Original Repository

When you're working on a GitHub project from a fork, you need to make sure your branch stays updated with the latest changes from the original (upstream) repository.

Here's how to do that without overwriting your own work.

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Step 1: Fork the Repository

1. Go to the GitHub repository provided by your instructor.
2. Click "Fork" (top-right corner).
3. Clone your fork to your computer:

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/REPO_NAME.git
cd REPO_NAME

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Step 2: Set the Upstream Remote

The upstream is the original repository you forked from (e.g., your instructor's or the class repo).

git remote add upstream https://github.com/NM-TAFE/civ-ipos-sessions.git

You can check that both remotes are set correctly:

git remote -v

Expected output:

origin    https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/REPO_NAME.git (fetch)
origin    https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/REPO_NAME.git (push)
upstream  https://github.com/NM-TAFE/civ-ipos-sessions.git (fetch)
upstream  https://github.com/NM-TAFE/civ-ipos-sessions.git (push)

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Step 3: Pull Updates from Upstream

To get the latest changes from the smesters branch branch of the original repo into your own branch, follow either merge or rebase instructions below.

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Option 1: Merge upstream/<BRANCH_NAME> into your branch

This is safer and easier for beginners.

1. Switch to the branch you're working on:

   git checkout your-branch-name

2. Fetch the latest changes from upstream:

   git fetch upstream

3. Merge those changes into your branch:

   git merge upstream/<BRANCH_NAME>

4. If you see conflicts, Git will guide you to resolve them. Open the conflicting files, fix them, then:

   git add <file>
   git commit

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Option 2: Rebase your branch onto upstream/<BRANCH_NAME>

This keeps your history cleaner, but should only be used before pushing your branch to GitHub.

1. Checkout your working branch:

   git checkout your-branch-name

2. Fetch latest updates from upstream:

   git fetch upstream

3. Rebase your branch onto upstream/main:

   git rebase upstream/<BRANCH_NAME>

4. If there are conflicts:

   • Fix them in the file(s)
   • Then run:

   git add <file>
   git rebase --continue

5. If you already pushed this branch to GitHub, you need to force push:

   git push --force-with-lease

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Merge vs Rebase – Which Should You Use?

Merge	Rebase
Easier, especially for beginners	Cleaner commit history
Creates a merge commit	Rewrites commit history
Keeps record of when you merged	Avoids extra merge commits
Safe for shared branches	Should only be done before pushing or with care