git pull remote branch causes a merge commit if the branch is different than the current one

[nfriedly]

I have a site that uses docpad-plugin-repocloner, and I noticed that it was causing merge commits, merging the new branch into the current one every time I change branches.

[nfriedly]

I think

git fetch <remote>
git checkout <branch>
git merge <remote>/<branch>

is the closest option to the current behavior, but

git fetch <remote> 
git reset --hard <remote>/<branch>

might be a safer alternative to guarantee that the local repo matches the remote one.