Re: How to update Git's metadata without affecting working dir?

[Philip Oakley <philipoakley@iee.org>]

This is a duplicate of a question on the Git Users list.

On 17/05/2019 18:04, Rocky Ji wrote:
> I am working individually at the moment.
> I have the habit of committing related changes on a regular basis, but
> I push to GitLab only at the end of class session.
>
> -------Events to reproduce the situation--------
>
> Thursday, in school:
> - `git clone https://gitlab.../my-repo`
> - create a few .rst documentation files
> - commit the above changes before I `git push -U origin master`
>
> Friday, in school:
> - start working on new feature, create a test file `test_A.rb`
> - I commit the changes but forget to push
>
> Sunday, **in home**:
> - I `git clone https://gitlab.../my-repo`
> - work on the exciting new feature that popped in my head, create `feature.rb`
> - commit the changes before I `git push -U origin master`
>
> Monday, in school:
> - running `git status` shows `Your branch is ahead of 'origin/master'
> by 1 commit.`
>
> --------end problem reproduction----------------
>
> Questions I have
>
> 1. What will happen if I follow Git's recommendation `use "git push"
> to publish your local commits`?
> 2. How do I resolve this situation? I don't want loose any information
> i.e. preserve `test_A.rb` and `feature.rb` along with their commit
> messages and timestamps.
> 3. Why does Git assume that local-working-dir is "ahead" without
> consulting the Gitlab server first?
> 4. How to make Git "consult" (but not mess the working-dir) GitLab
> repo before starting my day's work?
>
> Thank you.