Git Flow is a model, a strategy, and a workflow widely used by development and programming teams. It stands out for its ability to help organize code versions .
Git Flow makes the entire process of creating new Features and Hotfixes within the code more organized and secure, avoiding the loss of any important information.
In this article, we’ll explain everything about Git Flow and show you a basic flow in which this system works .
What is Git Flow and when did it emerge?
Git Flow is a strategy created to improve the organization of branches within the repository and, in this way, make the process of new features and releases more fluid.
The term is still relatively new. It was first introduced in a 2010 publication by Dutch software engineer Vincent Driessen . In it, he america phone number list explained in detail his idea behind creating this model for using branches.
Don’t confuse Git Flow with Git!
Git is a code version control model . This model can be interpreted somewhat like a tree and its branches.
If you’ve used Git, you probably know that the branch, called Master, is considered the main branch. It acts as a bridge between the repository and the production server.
Git Flow presents a much more robust solution , especially for projects that are growing or that require constant updates. It’s also very useful when there are a large number of people working or committing within a repository.
The term “commit” is related to the activity of commit , which means submitting the latest code changes to the repository , making them part of the main version.
With the text explained, imagine a project involving 40 developers. It’s difficult to visualize how all the web programmers would handle the code after committing to the Master.
The work to adjust and recover the original data would be much more time-consuming and arduous, not to mention the chaos this would cause.
There are also companies that carry why marketers need to embrace automation, or risk being left behind out these activities; however, they adopt other strategies to avoid falling into the trap of putting something into production that isn’t fully tested.
What would be the correct way?
In a more general approach, it’s common to use the Master branch as the main branch of the repository. This way, whenever a new Feature needs to be created or something needs to be fixed, a new branch will be created for each case .
Once it’s completed, a Merge is performed; that is, the Feature Branch or fix is combined with the Master.
With Git Flow, something similar happens; however, with a slightly more complex branch structure, which also helps a lot.
What is the standard flow of a Git Flow?
But, back to the topic, a Feature Branch will always be created from the Develop branch and will return via Merge even to the Develop branch; which means it can be removed later.
Imagine you’re creating a new Feature, which is a new contact form for a website. You’ll need to name the Branch something like ” feature/new-contact-page .”
Once you have the new Feature incorporated into Develop, it needs to be prepared for production, which can’t just be done in Master. It’s necessary to use another support branch, called Release .
It may be that, just after creating a set of new features, you can have a release ready. However, once these features are ready in the Develop branch, it will be possible to merge them into a Release branch.
This is a standard Git Flow, although fax list no one is immune to bugs or even unexpected issues throughout production. And this is where another support branch emerges, the so-called Hotfix.
This works like a Branch Release. The difference is that, in this case, it’s used for a more critical action .
For this reason, when a hotfix is finalized, it will be “Marked” directly to Master. This branch also receives a Master tag after the process, and the same must be done on the Develop branch.
This way, developers can keep working on their features while hotfixes are created. This way, branches with hotfixes can be removed.
Other approaches to Branch management
There are other approaches, besides Git Flow, that manage branches in a project. One example, created by GitHub in 2011, is called GitHub Flow. It works well in many cases, especially less complex ones.
In addition to this, not to be outdone, the GitLab team also created GitLabFlow in 2014. Another well-known name is One Flow.
Git also has an extension created to streamline the entire process, allowing you to pass along many commands that should be executed very quickly. The extension is called git-flow, which can obviously cause confusion with Git Flow. So you should pay attention.