+#hmmm: the below are git specific and should be named that way.
+
+function all_branch_names()
+{
+ echo "$(git branch -vv | cut -d ' ' -f2)"
+}
+
+# a helpful method that reports the git branch for the current directory's
+# git repository.
+function my_branch_name()
+{
+ echo "$(git branch -vv | grep '\*' | cut -d ' ' -f2)"
+}
+
+#this had a -> in it at one point for not matching, didn't it?
+# this reports the upstream branch for the current repo.
+##function parent_branch_name()
+##{
+ ##echo "$(git branch -vv | grep \* | cut -d ' ' -f2)"
+##}
+
+# this exits with 0 for success (normal bash behavior) when up to date. if the branch is not up to date,
+# then these values are returned:
+#DOCUMENT THE VALUES
+# reference: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3258243/check-if-pull-needed-in-git
+function check_branch_state()
+{
+ local branch="$1"; shift
+
+ local to_return=120 # unknown issue.
+
+sep
+
+ LOCAL=$(git rev-parse @)
+ REMOTE=$(git rev-parse "$branch")
+ BASE=$(git merge-base @ "$branch")
+var branch LOCAL REMOTE BASE
+
+ if [ "$LOCAL" == "$REMOTE" ]; then
+ echo "Up-to-date"
+ to_return=0
+ elif [ "$LOCAL" == "$BASE" ]; then
+ echo "Need to pull"
+ to_return=1
+ elif [ "$REMOTE" == "$BASE" ]; then
+ echo "Need to push"
+ to_return=2
+ else
+ echo "Diverged"
+ to_return=3
+ fi
+
+sep
+
+ return $to_return
+}
+
+# the git update process just gets more and more complex when you bring in
+# branches, so we've moved this here to avoid having a ton of code in the
+# other methods.
+function do_careful_git_update()
+{
+ local this_branch="$(my_branch_name)"
+
+ # first update all our remote branches to their current state from the repos.
+ git remote update
+ test_or_die "git remote update"
+
+#appears to be useless; reports no changes when we need to know about remote changes that do exist:
+# check_branch_state "$this_branch"
+# state=$?
+# test_or_continue "branch state check"
+# echo the branch state is $state
+
+ # this code is now doing what i have to do when i repair the repo. and it seems to be good so far.
+ local branch_list=$(all_branch_names)
+ local bran
+ for bran in $branch_list; do
+# echo "synchronizing remote branch: $bran"
+ git checkout "$bran"
+ test_or_die "git checking out remote branch: $bran"
+ git pull --no-ff origin "$bran"
+ test_or_die "git pull of remote branch: $bran"
+ done
+ # now switch back to our branch.
+ git checkout "$this_branch"
+ test_or_die "git checking out our current branch: $this_branch"
+
+ # now pull down any changes in our own origin in the repo, to stay in synch
+ # with any changes from others.
+ git pull --no-ff --all
+ test_or_die "git pulling all upstream"
+}
+
+# gets the latest versions of the assets from the upstream repository.