You can't do it with only one git command but you can automate it with one bash line.
To safely update all branches with one line, here is what I do:
git fetch --all && for branch in $(git branch | sed '/*/{$q;h;d};$G' | tr -d '*') ; do git checkout $branch && git merge --ff-only || break ; done
If it can't fast-forward one branch or encounter an error, it will stop and leave you in that branch so that you can take back control and merge manually.
If all branches can be fast-forwarded, it will end with the branch you were currently in, leaving you where you were before updating.
Explanations:
For a better readability, it can be split over several lines:
git fetch --all && \
for branch in $(git branch | sed '/*/{$q;h;d};$G' | tr -d '*')
do git checkout $branch && \
git merge --ff-only || break
done
git fetch --all && ... => Fetches all refs from all remotes and continue with the next command if there has been no error.
git branch | sed '/*/{$q;h;d};$G' | tr -d '*' => From the output of git branch, sed take the line with a * and move it to the end (so that the current branch will be updated last). Then tr simply remove the *.
for branch in $(...) ; do git checkout $branch && git merge --ff-only || break ; done = > For each branch name obtained from the previous command, checkout this branch and try to merge with a fast-forward. If it fails, break is called and the command stops here.
Of course, you can replace git merge --ff-only with git rebase if it is what you want.
Finally, you can put it in your bashrc as an alias:
alias git-pull-all='git fetch --all && for branch in $(git branch | sed '\''/*/{$q;h;d};$G'\'' | tr -d "*") ; do git checkout $branch && git merge --ff-only || break ; done'
Or if you are afraid of messing up with the ' and ", or you simply prefer to keep syntactic readability in your editor, you can declare it as a function:
git-pull-all()
{
git fetch --all && for branch in $(git branch | sed '/*/{$q;h;d};$G' | tr -d '*') ; do git checkout $branch && git merge --ff-only || break ; done
}
Bonus:
For those who'd like the explanation on the sed '/*/{$q;h;d};$G' part:
/*/ => Search for the line with a *.
{$q => If it is in the last line, quit (we don't need to do anything because the current branch is already the last one in the list).
;h;d} => Otherwise, store the line in the hold buffer and delete it in the current list position.
;$G => When it reaches the last line, append the content of the hold buffer.
![4]](https://static.mcmap.net/file/mcmap/ZG-AbGLDKwfpKnMAWVMrKmltX1ywKmMva3/7AjEC.png)
git-upis no longer maintained. I used it happily for many years but not anymore. Somehow I haven't run into this old problem. As for the other answers, none seem good enough to accept. Do you have a favorite? – Sheehanrm -rf repothengit clone– Imprisongit help-->Google-->SO pipeline comes into play. – Tamelatameless