Checkout Remote Git Branch

We clone a remote repository, check out a remote branch.

$ git clone https://github.com/limingth/meteor-master-classes.git
$ cd meteor-master-classes
$ git branch -r
origin/HEAD -> origin/master
origin/fanjinhui
origin/lichao
origin/limingth
origin/master
origin/sean
origin/tianchao

So the remote repository's name is "origin". First check the initial status of the repository:

$ git branch
* master

$ git remote show origin
* remote origin
  Fetch URL: https://github.com/limingth/meteor-master-classes.git
  Push  URL: https://github.com/limingth/meteor-master-classes.git
  HEAD branch: master
  Remote branches:
    fanjinhui tracked
    lichao    tracked
    limingth  tracked
    master    tracked
    sean      tracked
    tianchao  tracked
  Local branch configured for 'git pull':
    master merges with remote master
  Local ref configured for 'git push':
    master pushes to master (up to date)

Now checkout the remote branch:

$ git fetch
$ git checkout lichao

Check the status of the repository after checked out:

$ git br
* lichao     <---
  master

$ git remote show origin
* remote origin
  Fetch URL: https://github.com/limingth/meteor-master-classes.git
  Push  URL: https://github.com/limingth/meteor-master-classes.git
  HEAD branch: master
  Remote branches:
    fanjinhui tracked
    lichao    tracked
    limingth  tracked
    master    tracked
    sean      tracked
    tianchao  tracked
  Local branches configured for 'git pull':
    lichao merges with remote lichao        <---
    master merges with remote master
  Local refs configured for 'git push':
    lichao pushes to lichao (up to date)    <---
    master pushes to master (up to date)

You can see there are 2 kinds of relationship between local and remote branches: pull and push. Branch "lichao" and "origin/lichao" was linked bidirectional after checked out.

Some notes:

The name of the remote branch to be checked out is its full name except the "origin/" part, like "lichao" in git checkout lichao;
git fetch synchronize your local repository with remote side. So it's not necessary if you don't want sync with remote.

You can verify this by git branch -avv.

Ref:

http://serverfault.com/questions/175052/how-to-tell-which-local-branch-is-tracking-which-remote-branch-in-git
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1783405/checkout-remote-git-branch

Checkout Remote Git Branch

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