Some useful git branching notes

These are some notes related to git branches.

• If you're planning to use gitflow, make sure to use gitflow-avh version because the original one is buggy and not maintained anymore. Mac OS users; install it with brew install git-flow-avh.


• The origin/master is considered to be the main branch and its source code is always in a production-ready state.


• The origin/develop is considered to be the development branch and its source code is always in "work in progress" state for the next release.


• When the source code in the develop branch is stable and ready to be released, it should be merged into master branch and be tagged with a release number.


• When merging release and hotfix into master branch, tagging takes place in master branch not in develop. Tags represents project's current state so they are version numbers. There is no tagging involved in feature branches.


• The command git pull would work only if the branch you have checked out is tracking an remote branch. For example; if the branch you have checked out tracks origin/develop, git pull is equivalent to git pull origin develop.


• Feature branches branch off from/track develop and merged back into develop branch.


• Release branches branch off from/track develop and merged back into develop as well as master branch.


• Hotfix branches branch off from/track master and merged back into develop as well as master branch.