Git: How to check if a local repo is up to date?

git remote show origin

Result:

HEAD branch: master
  Remote branch:
    master tracked
  Local branch configured for 'git pull':
    master merges with remote master
  Local ref configured for 'git push':
    master pushes to master (local out of date) <-------

First use git remote update, to bring your remote refs up to date. Then you can do one of several things, such as:

1. git status -uno will tell you whether the branch you are tracking is ahead, behind or has diverged. If it says nothing, the local and remote are the same. Sample result:

On branch DEV

Your branch is behind 'origin/DEV' by 7 commits, and can be fast-forwarded.

(use "git pull" to update your local branch)

2. git show-branch *master will show you the commits in all of the branches whose names end in 'master' (eg master and origin/master).

If you use -v with git remote update (git remote -v update) you can see which branches got updated, so you don't really need any further commands.

Try git fetch --dry-run The manual (git help fetch) says:

--dry-run
Show what would be done, without making any changes.