+# a helpful method that reports the git branch for the current directory's
+# git repository.
+function my_branch_name()
+{
+ echo "$(git branch | grep \* | cut -d ' ' -f2)"
+}
+
+# this reports the upstream branch for the current repo.
+function parent_branch_name()
+{
+ echo "$(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="$1"; shift
+
+ local to_return=120 # unknown issue.
+
+ LOCAL=$(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
+
+ 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
+# do_checkin method.
+function careful_git_update()
+{
+ # first update all our remote branches to their current state from the repos.
+ git remote update
+ test_or_die "git remote update"
+
+#is parent branch the right thing to tell it?
+#or we want mybranch for real, don't we?
+# check_branch_state $(parent_branch_name)
+ state=$(check_branch_state $(my_branch_name) )
+test_or_continue "branch state check"
+#need to instead do something here if fails.
+
+ # now pull down any changes in our own origin in the repo, to stay in synch
+ # with any changes from others.
+ git pull --no-ff --all
+ test_or_die "git pulling all upstream"
+
+
+echo The rest of pull is not being done yet.
+return 1
+
+
+
+# below has older shards of partial knowledge.
+
+# reslog=$(git log HEAD..origin/master --oneline)
+# if [[ "${reslog}" != "" ]] ; then
+# git merge origin/master
+
+# # from very helpful page:
+# # https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10312521/how-to-fetch-all-git-branches
+# for remote in $( git branch -r | grep -v -- '->' ); do
+# git branch --track ${remote#origin/} $remote 2>/dev/null
+##hmmm: ignoring errors from these, since they are continual.
+##hmmm: if we could find a way to not try to track with a local branch when there's already one present, that would be swell. it's probably simple.
+# done
+#
+##hmmm: well, one time it failed without the fetch. i hope that's because the fetch is actually needed and not because the whole approach is fubar.
+# git fetch --all 2>&1 | grep -v "X11 forwarding request failed" | $TO_SPLITTER
+# test_or_die "git fetch"
+#
+# git pull --all 2>&1 | grep -v "X11 forwarding request failed" | $TO_SPLITTER
+# test_or_die "git pull"
+
+}
+
+# gets the latest versions of the assets from the upstream repository.