Git: pull vs. fetch→pull
<p>I've never been able to get a clear answer to this question.</p>

<p>For a long time, and at the advisement of a coworker, I've been doing this:</p>

<pre><code>git fetch origin
git pull origin &lt;mybranch&gt;
</code></pre>

<p>I've been told (and have seen) that <code>git pull</code> does not behave the same way if you do not first do <code>git fetch</code>. You don't get any remote changes.</p>

<p>But all I see online is that <code>git pull</code> is the equivalent of <code>git fetch</code> followed by <code>git merge</code>. If that were true, <code>git pull</code> would include <code>git fetch</code>, and I wouldn't need an explicit <code>git fetch</code> first, right? But that doesn't seem to be the case.</p>

<p>So what I'm looking for is some explicit documentation that describes the observed behavior of <code>git pull</code>. (I know I'll probably also get lots of advice to switch to <code>git fetch</code> → <code>git merge</code>; that's fine too, but I'm really interested in <code>git pull</code>.)</p>