Pulling repo only pulls current branch

Description

Version

• GitHub Desktop: 1.5.0

• Operating system: MacOS Mojove 10.14.1

Steps to Reproduce

1. Check out a different branch, e.g. switch from repo/branch-1 to repo/branch-2
2. Make changes to the previously checked out branch, e.g. repo/master, from a different source (like adding commits or deleting the branch)
3. Pull repo in Desktop via Repository > Pull or Shift + Command + P

Expected Behavior

All branches should be pulled.

Actual Behavior

Only the current branch is pulled.

Additional Information

I believe this issue was not present in a present in previous versions of Desktop.

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Commits added to the branch not checked out, e.g. branch-1, are not reflected in Desktop after pulling the repository via above steps, so for example attempting to merge from that branch into, say, branch-2 may yield “branch-2 is up-to-date” when in fact it is not. The workaround in this case is to stash any staged/unstaged changes, check out branch-1, pull, return to branch-2, and merge.

Checked out branch staging has additional commits on remote

Check out branch conflicts-expansion and pull from remote

Attempt to merge from staging into conflicts-expansion

After switching to staging, pulling, then switching back to conflicts-expansion

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If, say, branch-2 is deleted, it is still in Desktop (on the local machine) and commits can be added. When attempting to pull while this branch is checked out, a modal says, “Your configuration specifies to merge with the ref ‘refs/heads/branch-2’ from the remote, but no such ref was fetched.” Desktop does recognize the branch was deleted as it does give the option to publishbranch-2.

A deleted branch is checked out

Attempting to pull from a deleted branch

[ezracelli]

I wouldn’t call it disruptive, as there is a workaround (stash, switching, pulling, switching, stash pop), but it can be troublesome if you think you’re up to date and you’re not. It’s really more of an annoyance than anything else.

Take the example I used above.

X-X-X-X-Y            staging
       \-X-X-X-X     conflicts-expansion

Say someone working on staging mentioned to me that they fixed a bug, adding the commit Y. I (still in conflicts-expansion) pull and merge from staging into conflicts-expansion and see the bug is still there — because commit Y was never actually pulled, but there is no indication in Desktop. They try to reproduce the issue and can’t. Finally I check out staging and see that there is an unpulled commit.

[steveward]

@ezracelli I’m going to close this out due to inactivity. It looks like this specific case is the same as your request (fetching changes to ensure branches are up-to-date when performing a merge). You can follow https://github.com/desktop/desktop/issues/10687 for updates about that.