The "git remote prune <name>" command uses the same machinery as "git fetch <name> --prune", and shares all the same caveats, but its documentation has suggested that it'll just "delete stale remote-tracking branches under <name>".
This isn't true, and hasn't been true since at least v1.8.5.6 (the oldest version I could be bothered to test). E.g. if "refs/tags/*:refs/tags/*" is explicitly set in the refspec of the remote it'll delete all local tags <name> doesn't know about. Instead, briefly give the reader just enough of a hint that this option might constitute a shotgun aimed at their foot, and point them to the new PRUNING section in the git-fetch documentation which explains all the nuances of what this facility does. See "[BUG] git remote prune removes local tags, depending on fetch config" (caci5s_39wnrbfjlfn0xhcy+uewtfn2ymnacrc86z6pjutjw...@mail.gmail.com) by Michael Giuffrida for the initial report. Reported-by: Michael Giuffrida <michae...@chromium.org> Signed-off-by: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <ava...@gmail.com> --- Documentation/git-remote.txt | 14 +++++++++----- 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/git-remote.txt b/Documentation/git-remote.txt index 577b969c1b..04e2410aec 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-remote.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-remote.txt @@ -172,10 +172,14 @@ With `-n` option, the remote heads are not queried first with 'prune':: -Deletes all stale remote-tracking branches under <name>. -These stale branches have already been removed from the remote repository -referenced by <name>, but are still locally available in -"remotes/<name>". +Deletes stale references associated with <name>. By default stale +remote-tracking branches under <name>, but depending on global +configuration and the configuration of the remote we might even prune +local tags that haven't been pushed there. Equivalent to `git fetch +--prune <name>`, except that no new references will be fetched. ++ +See the PRUNING section of linkgit:git-fetch[1] for what it'll prune +depending on various configuration. + With `--dry-run` option, report what branches will be pruned, but do not actually prune them. @@ -189,7 +193,7 @@ remotes.default is not defined, all remotes which do not have the configuration parameter remote.<name>.skipDefaultUpdate set to true will be updated. (See linkgit:git-config[1]). + -With `--prune` option, prune all the remotes that are updated. +With `--prune` option, run pruning against all the remotes that are updated. DISCUSSION -- 2.15.1.424.g9478a66081
