为什么 git pull 不能恢复已删除的文件？

Question

There're two remote repos on github:

repo_course : course instructor regularly release new assignment skeleton code;

repo_me : my own with completed assignment code to grade;

It works like that:

git clone <repo_me url> : create local working repo on my computer which is empty

git add remote skeleton <repo_course url>

git pull skeleton master : fetch skeleton code, complete it, and push to repo_me

My question is:

Suppose that I pulled skeleton.java and rename or delete it, then I git pull skeleton master again, it won't restore. Why is that? It seems pull will add the new skeleton files only once at the first pull since last time. What's the benefits of its being designed like this?

What should I do if I indeed need to restore my deleted files from repo_course ?

Answer 1

If you want your work replayed, instead of their work merged, try (with Git 2.9 or more):

git config --global pull.rebase true
git config --global rebase.autoStash true

Then a simple git pull will replay (rebase) your local commits (including your file rename) on top of what you are fetching.

"Why git pull doesnt' restore deleted files?

Because a merge would override local modification (like the file rename) with what is merged.
As opposed to rebase, which will rebase your own local work (like a file rename) on top of what is fetched.