Pick Your Git Branching Strategy Lorna Mitchell, October 2015

Git Branching

A Branch is a Label Take a look in .git/refs/heads/ • A branch is a pointer to a commit. • You commit on a branch, the commit is created and the pointer updated.

Commits Aren't "On" Branches

Commits Aren't "On" Branches

Sample Branching Strategies • Git Flow: http://lrnja.net/1ebawKU • GitHub Flow: http://lrnja.net/1Gr29Jn • Atlassian blog: http://lrnja.net/1BSFQcQ • Docs from GitLab: http://lrnja.net/1AiPxQJ Some common elements between these

Branching Strategy Ingredients List

Topic Branches Pattern Starting something new? Use a branch.

Topic Branches Pattern Merge from master into feature before merging

Topic Branches Pattern Rebase branch onto master before merging

Branch Naming • master default branch name • develop often used for bleeding edge branch Configure your repo accordingly

Hotfix Pattern Branch off, commit once, merge with --no-ff • makes it very clear what happened • easily merge the branch back upstream if needed • makes it possible to cleanly undo without losing anything

Hotfix Pattern

Environment Branches Maintain one branch per platform • branch always reflects current state of platform • plays well with automated deployment

Environment Branches

Tagging for Releases Git has two types of tags: • simple tags are just a label, like a branch that doesn't advance • annotated tags are an object, they can contain messages git tag -a v2.11 -m "v2.11 with caching" Then push the tag

Git Branches

Resources • These slides: http://lornajane.net/resources • My git book: http://gitworkbook.com/