push.default=upstream doesn't play nicely with remote.pushdefault/branch.*.pushremote

(Please CC me as I am not subscribed.)

$ git config -l | grep '^branch.master\|^push.'
push.default=upstream
branch.master.remote=upstream
branch.master.merge=refs/heads/master
branch.master.pushremote=origin

$ git branch
* master

$ git push
fatal: You are pushing to remote 'origin', which is not the upstream of
your current branch 'master', without telling me what to push
to update which remote branch.

push.default=upstream means "push back where it came from (*)". However, if I specifically define remote.pushdefault or branch.*.pushremote, this clearly means I don't want to do (*) in this case.

The question here then is, what remote branch should git push to - since pushremote only specifies a repo? I can suggest two options:

- A: push to branch.*.merge if it's defined; otherwise push to <current branch> (like push.default=current)
- B: push to <current branch> regardless

B is probably simpler and means you can amend the push.default manual entry more easily:

upstream: [..] This mode only makes sense if you are pushing to the same repository you would normally pull from (i.e. central workflow). <INS>If you are not pushing to the same repository, acts as "current".</INS>

(Note again; that this is a special case when push.default=upstream because of the "this mode only makes sense" semantics. The other values for push.default are simpler and do not result in a conflict.)

Alternatively, an even more simple behaviour is to adjust the error message to communicate the root cause:

$ git push
fatal: branch.*.pushremote is not compatible with push.default = upstream

X

GPG: 4096R/1318EFAC5FBBDBCE
git://github.com/infinity0/pubkeys.git

I think this was discussed on the list during the last development cycle. Please check the list archive.

"git config --help" has this to say about it:

* upstream - push the current branch back to the branch whose changes are usually integrated into the current branch (which is called @{upstream}). This mode only makes sense if you are pushing to the same repository you would normally pull from (i.e. central workflow).

* simple - in centralized workflow, work like upstream with an added safety to refuse to push if the upstream branch's name is different from the local one.

When pushing to a remote that is different from the remote you normally pull from, work as current.

No need to say that, Git mailing list is sane and doesn't do reply-to munging.

Or C: introduce the concept of a publish branch to complement pushremote:

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/233572

Felipe Contreras