Tracking Branches

# 1) On first push, --set-upstream (or -u) wires the tracking branch
git switch -c feature/checkout
git push -u origin feature/checkout
# now 'git push' and 'git pull' on this branch use origin/feature/checkout

# 2) Inspect tracking relationships
git branch -vv
#   main             a1b2c3d [origin/main] last commit subject
#   feature/checkout d4e5f6g [origin/feature/checkout: ahead 2] adding cart
#   stale-branch     7890abc [origin/stale: gone] old subject

# 3) The 'gone' marker means the remote branch was deleted
git fetch -p              # prune deleted remote refs from your local view
git branch -vv | awk '/: gone\]/{print $1}' | xargs -r git branch -D

# 4) Set tracking on an existing local branch (no first push needed)
git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/main main
git branch -u origin/feature/checkout    # short form

# 5) Change which remote a branch tracks (e.g. fork -> upstream)
git remote add upstream git@github.com:owner/repo.git
git fetch upstream
git branch -u upstream/main main

# 6) Remove the tracking relationship
git branch --unset-upstream feature/temp

# 7) Auto-setup-remote: never type -u again
git config --global push.autoSetupRemote true
# next 'git push' on a new branch creates origin/<same-name> and tracks it

# 8) Rebase tracking branches against their upstream on pull (cleaner history)
git config --global pull.rebase true
git config --global fetch.prune true

# 9) Check what is configured for a branch
git config --get-regexp '^branch\.feature/checkout'
#   branch.feature/checkout.remote origin
#   branch.feature/checkout.merge  refs/heads/feature/checkout

# Local branch tracks a remote one.
git branch -vv
git branch --set-upstream-to origin/main