How do I fetch a branch on someone else's fork on GitHub?

Question

I've forked from a repo on GitHub. I want to get the code from a branch on another user's fork.

Must I clone this user's whole repo to a separate local repo or can I do something like git checkout link_to_the_other_users_branch?

You're looking for git "remotes": http://progit.org/book/ch2-5.html — millimoose, Feb 05 '12 at 22:20

amalloy · Accepted Answer · 2022-12-08T09:54:06.950

370

$ git remote add theirusername git@github.com:theirusername/reponame.git
$ git fetch theirusername
$ git checkout -b mynamefortheirbranch theirusername/theirbranch

Note that there are multiple "correct" URIs you can use for the remote when you add it in the first step.

git@github.com:theirusername/reponame.git is an SSH-based URI
https://github.com/theirusername/reponame.git is an HTTPS URI

Which one you prefer to use will depend on your situation. GitHub has a help article explaining the difference and helping you choose: Choosing a URL for your remote repository

edited Dec 08 '22 at 09:54

answered Feb 05 '12 at 22:35

amalloy

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What does that last line do? – Andrew Downes Jul 10 '15 at 15:43
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The last line checks out a new branch called `mynamefortheirbranch` with its start point set to the head of `theirusername/theirbranch`. – Louis Simoneau Jul 15 '15 at 01:16
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I get *Fatal: cannot update paths and switch to branch 'xyz' at the same time. Did you intend to checkout 'xyz/xyz' which can not be resolved as commit?* – The Onin Nov 03 '15 at 18:39
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Did not work with me. – Ahmed May 29 '19 at 16:35
@amalloy It is creating a branch as expected but not allowing to push the branch in my current fork. Getting this message " To push to the upstream branch on the remote, use git push krupa-fork HEAD:develop To push to the branch of the same name on the remote, use git push krupa-fork HEAD" – javaGroup456 Oct 24 '19 at 08:36
after the first command of adding remote- ``$ git fetch theirusername theirbranchname:yourbranchname`` and the branch will be fetched and added to your local forked repo. Then do the push if needed. – Vikrant May 07 '20 at 14:22

Mateusz Piotrowski · Answer 2 · 2018-03-20T13:15:34.873

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amalloy's suggestion didn't work for me. This did:

git remote add theirusername https://github.com/theirusername/reponame
git fetch theirusername
git checkout -b mynamefortheirbranch theirusername/theirbranch

Resources:

edited Mar 20 '18 at 13:15

answered Jun 07 '16 at 18:34

Mateusz Piotrowski

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I believe you are missing a `.git` at the end of your first line. – TomNorway Oct 13 '16 at 17:05
@TomNorway Are you sure? Doesn't it work for you like this? – Mateusz Piotrowski Oct 13 '16 at 17:07
@TomNorway I tested it and it works without the `.git` extension. Do you use GitHub? – Mateusz Piotrowski Oct 13 '16 at 17:09
I do indeed. I must admit that I didn't test it - my mistake. I only tested with .git, which I assumed was required. – TomNorway Oct 13 '16 at 18:02
This doesn't work for me - `git fetch theirusername` returns `fatal: 'username' does not appear to be a git repository` – anks Mar 20 '18 at 10:58
@anks Your error message looks weird. – Mateusz Piotrowski Mar 20 '18 at 13:16
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@MateuszPiotrowski yeah, well, I used the first command incorrectly (missed the theirusername after add). sorry :) – anks Apr 01 '18 at 21:03

How do I fetch a branch on someone else's fork on GitHub?

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