Git Workflow

We use the git-workflow as described in git-workflow and

git-workflow.

Installation

On most recent Linux distributions, git-flow comes with the default package resources, on Debian/Ubuntu systems you just call

sudo apt install git-flow

on OSX call

brew install git-flow

on MSWindows you can install: git-flow for MSWindows

!! please select a version with __support__ branches

git flow usage

There are basically two constant branches: master and develop.

master shall always contain a stable, tested release and the develop branch is used for all progesses in development. All feature branches are derived from develop.

When some features mature to be released, a release branch can be created. In a release branch, no further features shall be added. It is mainly used for bug-fixing and polishing. Finalising a release branch will result in a merge to master and to develop.

The bugs in the master branch can be fixed with hotfix branches.

Screencast git flow init

Creating feature/release/hotfix/support branches

Feature branch

To start a new feature, use .. code-block:: console

git flow feature start [your_feature_branch]

To finish a feature:

git flow feature finish [your_feature_branch]

• Summary list/start/finish/delete feature branches, use:

 git flow feature
 git flow feature start <name> [<base>]
 git flow feature finish <name>
 git flow feature delete <name>

For feature branches, the `<base>` arg must be a branch, when omitted it defaults to the develop branch.

push/pull a feature branch to the remote repository

git flow feature publish <name>
git flow feature track <name>

list/start/finish/delete release branches

git flow release
git flow release start <release> [<base>]
git flow release finish <release>
git flow release delete <release>

For release branches, the <base> arg must be a branch, when omitted it defaults to the develop branch.

list/start/finish/delete hotfix branches

git flow hotfix
git flow hotfix start <release> [<base>]
git flow hotfix finish <release>
git flow hotfix delete <release>

For hotfix branches, the <base> arg must be a branch, when omitted it defaults to the production branch.

list/start support branches

git flow support
git flow support start <release> <base>

For support branches, the <base> arg must be a branch, when omitted it defaults to the production branch.

Share features with others

You can easily publish a feature you are working on. The reason can be to allow other programmers to work on it or to access it from another machine. The publish/track feature of gitflow simplify the creation of a remote branch and its tracking.

When you want to publish a feature just use:

git flow feature publish <name>

or, if you already are into the feature/<name> branch, just issue:

git flow feature publish

Now if you execute git branch -avv you will see that your branch feature/<name> tracks [origin/feature/<name>]. To track the same remote branch in another clone of the same repository use:

git flow feature track <name>

This will create a local feature feature/<name> that tracks the same remote branch as the original one, that is origin/feature/<name>.

When one developer (depending on your work flow) finishes working on the feature he or she can issue git flow feature finish <name> and this will automatically delete the remote branch. All other developers shall then run:

git flow feature delete <name>

to get rid of the local feature that tracks a remote branch that no more exist.

Share hotfixes with others

You can publish an hotfix you are working on. The reason can be to allow other programmers to work on it or validate it or to access it from another machine.

When you want to publish an hotfix just use (as you did for features):

git flow hotfix publish <name>

or, if you already are into the hotfix/<name> branch, just issue:

git flow hotfix publish

Other developers can now update their repositories and checkout the hotfix:

git pull
git checkout hotfix/<name>

and eventually finish it:

git flow hotfix finish