How do I create a proper new local and remote branch combination in EGit?

Question

I would like to do the following in EGit:

$ git checkout -b newbranch
$ git push -u origin newbranch

This gives me a new local branch, pushes it to the upstream server and creates the right tracking reference. How do I do the same in EGit?

Answer 1

For the first operation, you can read the EGit manual "Creating a New Local Branch "

Select Team > Switch To... > New Branch

For the push, see Vogella's Egit tutorial, but also the "Push ref specification"

Note: robinst has opened bug 378960 "Allow to configure upstream in Push Branch wizard" (mentioned in "EGit - set up remote tracking correctly when creating a branch").

The problem is that this (configuring the upstream on push) is not yet done automatically when first pushing a branch.

For now you have to right click on the branch in the Git Repositories view and choose "Configure Branch", where you can set up the upstream configuration.

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Note: bug 378960 has been marked as resolved (February 2014) in Egit 3.2:

Push Branch / Initial Push wizard simplifies pushing a branch and also allows upstream configuration for new branches created by the push operation: