[git] How to preview git-pull without doing fetch?

If you don't want git-fetch to update your local .git, just copy your local repo to a temp dir and do a pull there. Here is a shor-hand:

$ alias gtp="tar -c . | (cd /tmp && mkdir tp && cd tp && tar -x && git pull; rm -rf /tmp/tp)"

Ex.:

$ git status
# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)

$ gtp
remote: Finding sources: 100% (25/25)
remote: Total 25 (delta 10), reused 25 (delta 10)
Unpacking objects: 100% (25/25), done.
From ssh://my.git.domain/reapO
   32d61dc..05287d6  master     -> origin/master
Updating 32d61dc..05287d6
Fast-forward
 subdir/some.file       |    2 +-
 .../somepath/by.tes    |    3 ++-
 .../somepath/data      |   11 +++++++++++
 3 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

$ git status
# On branch master
nothing to commit (working directory clean)

$ git fetch
remote: Finding sources: 100% (25/25)
remote: Total 25 (delta 10), reused 25 (delta 10)
Unpacking objects: 100% (25/25), done.
From ssh://my.git.domain/reapO
   32d61dc..05287d6  master     -> origin/master

$ git status
# On branch master
# Your branch is behind 'origin/master' by 3 commits, and can be fast-forwarded.
#
nothing to commit (working directory clean)