A Git Workflow

by AJ Meyghani

getting started

Follow the instructions at bitbucket and install all the necessary things. Then clone the repo:

git clone [link to the repo]

Then you can follow the guideline below and learn about branching and feature deployment. All you need to care about as a feature developer is the dev branch and the feature branches. Don't worry too much about other branches. All you need to do is make a branch from the dev branch and call it feature-xxxx and then work on it and do whatever you want. Preferably don't remove stuff. Work and make commits and have fun. Also checkout this video that I made that shows how you can use git as a content switcher to look at different features. In summary:

git checkout dev
git checkout -b feature-my-new-awesome-feature

# you are all set, now get going and do work as much as you want
# make commits every now and then by:

git add --all
git cm -m "some message in present tesnse: eg. adds a cool feature"

NOTE

If you and someone else work on same files at the same time, conflics will be caused. They are not a big deal because they can be resolved, but make new files with different names if you decided to make another branch from the dev to work on another feature.

Pushing and updatig the remote repo

Once you are ready to share your work with others in the team, push your branch to the remote repo:

git checkout feature-your-branch
git push origin feature-your-branch

Pulling and updating the local repo

If you want to update your local repo from the remote, go to any branch that you want and then pull down changes:

git checkout the-branch-you-are-interested
git pull origin the-branch-you-are-interested

To see a list of all availabe branches, do:

git branch -a

git workflow example

Lets start a sample project and follow an example workflow!

# initialize a git repo in a folder on the desktop
# called someApp

cd ~/Desktop
git mkdir someApp && cd $_
git init

Lets add a readme file and make the first commit.

touch README.md
git add --all
git commit -m "adds the readme file"

Now we have the master branch and the first commit. Lets branch off to the dev branch from the master:

git co master
git checkout -b dev

Now we are on the dev branch. Remember, nothing is commited directly into dev. Things are added to dev with merges. Now, lets start working on a feature. We call this feature "f1". For this purpose, lets make a branch from dev and work on our feature.

git checkout dev 
git checkout -b f1

#some work, make new files , etc
#….
#…. 

#lets commit the changes on f1 branch:
git add --all
git commit -m "adds feature 1 and makes it cool"

Now that the feature "f1" is done we are ready to merge into dev:

git checkout dev
git merge f1 --no-ff --no-edit

#merge is successful and the f1 branch is ready to be deleted

git checkout dev
git branch -d f1

Good, we have our first feature implemented! We are ready to deploy. Now, we need to make a deploy-x branch from dev:

git checkout dev
git checkout deploy-f1

#here we can make direct commits to deploy-f1 branch until we are happy.
#… more wrok on deploy-f1 but no new feature
# now we are 100% happy with deploy-f1 and ready to merge to master

git add --all
git commit -m "adds the deploy-f1 feature and fixes the cahrt"

Now that deploy-f1 is ready, we should mege to master first and then to dev:

git checkout master
git merge deploy-f1 --no--ff --no-edit

and then merge deploy-1 into dev:

git checkout dev
git merge deploy-f1 --no--ff --no-edit

now that the deploy-f1 branch is merged in both branches, it should be deleted:

git checkout master 
git tag v.0.1
git branch -d deploy-1

That's it! our feature is deployed and the commit is tagged on the master so we can find it later easily anytime later.

Makeing small fixes on production

When there is an issue that needs be fixed on the production, a new branch from master created called fix-x. Then once the fix is done, it is merged into master and then merged into dev (the order is not important) and then we finally delete the fix branch.

So, let's say that there is a small bug on v.0.1 and has to be fixed right away:

git checkout master
git checkout -b fix-f1

Now, we can fix the issue and commit the fix:

# work on the brnach, add files, etc

git add --all
git commit -m "fixes a small bug on v0.1"

Now, we merge into master:

git checkout master
git merge fix-f1 --no-ff --no-edit

then merge into dev so that the bug fix is added in the next deployment:

git checkout dev
git merge fix-f1 --no-ff --no-edit

and finally delete the fix-f1 branch once the merge is successful:

git checkout master
git branch -d fix-f1

Branches and Branching

There are main branches and sub branches that are used for developming the application.

Main Branches

The main branches are the master and the dev branch.

1.Master

The master branch contains the production ready code. Nothing is directly committed to it directly. It gets populated through merges.

2.Dev

The Dev branch contains the main development code. Nothing is directly domitted to it directly. It gets populated through merges.

Sub branches

There are also sub branches that are used. There branches include:

a. Feature-x branches

Feature-x branches, branch off from the develompent branch. Commits are made while on the feature-x branch and then once the feaute is ready, it is finally merged to the dev branch and then the feature-x branch is deleted after the merge is successful.

b. Deploy-x branches

When a feature or multiple features are merged into the dev branch, a deploy-x branch is created from the dev branch. Commits can be made to deploy-x branch (but no new features) and then once ready, the deploy-x branch is meged into the master and then again to the dev branch. And finally, after the mege, the deploy-x branch is deleted.

c. fix-x branches

Used to quickly fix something on the master branch. They branch off from the master branch. After the fix, they are then merged back into master and also to the development or deploy-x branch. And finally, the fix-x branch is deleted after the marges.

Push/Pull

Pulling Changes

To pull the changes run the following. This is equivalent to svn up

git pull origin [name of branch]

or

git pull #to pull all the changes on the current branch

Pushing changes

To push, first add, then commit and the push:

cd [repoRoot]
git add .
git commit -m "[some message]"
git push origin [name of branch]

To push all the branches and changes do:

git push -u origin --all #origin is the name of the remote repo

Merging

To merge, first checkout the branch that you want to merge into and then run merge followed by that name of the branch. For instance if you want to merge the chart branch into the development branch, do the following:

#before doing anything, make sure to add and commit your changes
#before changing branches

git checkout development
git merge chart