VS Code: What is the difference between push and publish

Question

On the GIT tab in Visual Studio Code there is an context menu with these items:

• Sync
• Pull
• Pull (release)
• Push

==================

• Publish

==================

...

What does the publish button do?

Answer 1

After checking the source code of Visual Studio Code.

Push

Push the current branch to the default remote upstream

public run(context?: any):Promise {
    return this.gitService.push() // ... removed for brevity        
}

Active when:

There is UPSTREAM and recent push/pulls (ahead)

if (!HEAD || !HEAD.name || !HEAD.upstream) {
    return false;
}

if (!HEAD.ahead) { // no commits to pull or push
    return false;
}

Publish

Allows you to choose which remote you want to push to.

public run(context?: any):Promise {
        const model = this.gitService.getModel();
        const remotes = model.getRemotes();
        const branchName = model.getHEAD().name;
        let promise: TPromise<string>;

        if (remotes.length === 1) {
            const remoteName = remotes[0].name;
            promise = TPromise.as(result ? remoteName : null);
        } else {
            // open the option picker            
            promise = this.quickOpenService.pick(picks, { placeHolder })
                .then(pick => pick && pick.label);
        }

        return promise
            .then(remote => remote && this.gitService.push(remote, branchName, { setUpstream: true }))            
}

Active when

There is NO UPSTREAM and off course remote branches are set.

if (model.getRemotes().length === 0) {
    return false;
}

if (!HEAD || !HEAD.name || HEAD.upstream) {
    return false;
}