Git publish

I have a git alias set up to push the current (new) branch up to origin and set it as the remote-tracking branch:

[alias]
     publish = "!git push origin $(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD) -u"

I use it by creating a new branch (for example with git switch -c new-branch), making a commit or two, and then running git publish.

Let's take a closer look at what this command does:

• git symbolic-ref --short HEAD outputs the short name of the current branch. For example: new-branch.
• git push origin [...] pushes the given branch to the remote (origin by default).
• -u (the shorthand for --set-upstream) makes sure to track the remote branch so that it is easier to work with in subsequent push or pull operations without having to specify the name of the branch each time.