How do I create a new local Git branch based on a remote branch without also setting the remote branch as the upstream?

Question

It used to be that every time I created a new feature branch with Magit, I would do this in the Magit buffer:

• Fetch from all remotes (f a)
• Change to my local master branch (b b master RET)
• Rebase that branch on the remote master branch (r u)
• Create a new feature branch based on my local master branch (b c master RET feature RET).

I didn't use my local master branch for anything other than spinning off new branches. Eventually I thought, hey, I can make this process shorter by just creating a new branch based on the remote branch:

• Fetch from all remotes (f a)
• Create a new branch based on the remote master branch (b c origin/master RET feature RET)

That would be great, except that the new branch now has origin/master set as its remote tracking branch. I'd rather have it be created with no remote tracking branch, so that when I eventually push, I'll be prompted for the obvious remote branch name origin/feature and just accept that. So I need one more step:

• Unset the remote tracking branch (b u)

I'd rather not have to do this every time. Is there some way to create a new branch based on a remote branch without also making the remote branch a tracking branch? I've pored through the Magit docs and searched online without success. The only thing I found to try is this:

(setq magit-branch-adjust-remote-upstream-alist '((nil . "master")))

...but the docs for that variable don't suggest that nil is an acceptable upstream, and indeed, this doesn't work.

Answer 1

I couldn't find a way to do this on a per-branch-creation basis with Magit, but further digging turned up a Git configuration option branch.autoSetupMerge that controls the setting up of tracking when the starting branch is remote. So all I had to do is run this command:

git config --global branch.autoSetupMerge false