When I do a git checkout of a branch from origin why is a subsequent pull needed to get latest?

Question

I have done the following command

git checkout -b mylocalbranch origin/develop

I know that mylocalbranch does not have the latest commits on develop. After

git pull --ff-only

it appears I have all the commits. So am correct about this and if so, what commits are reflected in mylocalbranch after the checkout but before the pull?

Answer 1

git checkout does not interact with any remotes, it only operates within your local repository. This means that your command will create a new branch ( mylocalbranch ) and sets it to point to wherever your local remote tracking branch origin/develop is currently pointing to. When you do a git pull or git fetch , the remote tracking branches are updated.

The subsequent pull was in your case needed because since the last time you pulled or fetched, new commits had appeared on the remote's develop branch.