title: How Do I 'git fetch' and 'git merge' from a Remote Tracking Branch (like 'git pull')
body: <p>I have set up some remote tracking branches in git, but I never seem to be able to merge them into the local branch once I have updated them with 'git fetch'.</p>
  
  <p>For example, suppose I have remote branch called 'an-other-branch'. I set that up locally as a tracking branch using</p>
  
  <pre><code>git branch --track an-other-branch origin/an-other-branch
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So far, so good. But if that branch gets updated (usually by me moving machine and commiting from that machine), and I want to update it on the original machine, I'm running into trouble with fetch/merge:</p>
  
  <pre><code>git fetch origin an-other-branch
  git merge origin/an-other-branch
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Whenever I do this, I get an 'Already up-to-date' message and nothing merges.</p>
  
  <p>However, a</p>
  
  <pre><code>git pull origin an-other-branch
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>always updates it like you would expect.</p>
  
  <p>Also, running git diff</p>
  
  <pre><code>git diff origin/an-other-branch
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>shows that there are differences, so I think I have my syntax wrong.</p>
  
  <p>What am I doing wrong?</p>
  
  <p><strong>EDIT [2010-04-09]:</strong> I have checked a couple of times, and I'm definitely not on a different branch. Should my 'git fetch' followed by a 'git merge' (as shown above) do the exact same thing as a git pull? I will get some workflow showing the results of a git status etc.</p>