CODEWITHSUNDEEP
git
user2423780
user2423780

Reputation: 73

git checkout seems to download from server

I'm using a remote git repository with multiple branches.

From the documentation I understand that I switch between branches by doing

git checkout master

or

git checkout branchname

I also understand that the repository is cloned onto my local machine (and that this is updated by doing git fetch)

But when I do 

git checkout master

git checkout branchname

git checkout master

in quick succession the system clearly downloads stuff from the server (at least, /sbin/ifconfig shows I'm downloading tens of megabytes)

What have I misunderstood here?

Upvotes: 2

Views: 440

Answers (1)

VonC
VonC

Reputation: 1326596

system clearly downloads stuff from the server

No, git checkout is a purely local operation, based on the full history of the repo cloned locally.
You could shut down any network connection that it would still work.

Even when you do a checkout of a remote branch (also described here), it is still local (since said "remote" branch is actually fetched and stored in the local namespace called "remotes")

git checkout --track -b haml origin/haml

Upvotes: 3

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