What's the difference between git “--track” and “--set-upstream-to”?

Question

As I can see, both git --track and --set-upstream-to modify a branch so it becames a tracking (or upstream) branch. But where is a subtle differenc

Answer 1

Let's assume that you have one master branch which is checked out. Now when you do a

$ git branch --track someBranch

you will create a new branch named someBranch which changes will be tracked according to the master branch. But this branch has no remote branch set. Thus you see remote = . in the git config.

Now that someBranch is tracked it means that changes will appear in git status and git branch -v as if a remote exists.

For example if you make a commit on someBranch git will tell you that you are 1 ahead when you do a git branch -v or when you do a git status it shows you

Your branch is ahead of 'master' by 1 commit.

And this is the interessting part. The branch is tracked and git shows you that it is 1 commit ahead of master (the branch that was checked out when you created someBranch)