How do I get the list of files about to be updated by `git pull` without knowing the branch name or what it tracks?

Question

How do I get the list of files that are about to be updated (or were just updated) by git pull so i can parse them and take appropriate action in a script?

Answer 1

Assuming you know the name of the remote (in my examples, origin) then you could simply go:

git fetch && git diff --name-only ..origin

templates/shows/showBase.html
templates/shows/showList.html
templates/shows/showListEntry.htm

Or if you wanted to sort into individual commits, you could use whatchanged:

git fetch && git whatchanged --name-only ..origin

commit fcb1b56d564fe85615ecd6befcd82f6fda5699ae
Author: Grambo 
Date:   Mon Dec 12 23:36:38 2011 +0000

    Hooked "I've Seen This" button up to "Review Show" dialog

templates/shows/showBase.html
templates/shows/showList.html
templates/shows/showListEntry.htm

commit xasdasdsada......