`git flow` vs. `git`: A comparison of using `git flow` commands versus raw `git` commands.

gitflow-breakdown.md

Initialize

gitflow	git
git flow init	git init
	git commit --allow-empty -m "Initial commit"
	git checkout -b develop master

Connect to the remote repository

gitflow	git
N/A	git remote add origin [email protected]:MYACCOUNT/MYREPO

Features

Create a feature branch

gitflow	git
git flow feature start MYFEATURE	git checkout -b feature/MYFEATURE develop

Share a feature branch

gitflow	git
git flow feature publish MYFEATURE	git checkout feature/MYFEATURE
	git push origin feature/MYFEATURE

Get latest for a feature branch

gitflow	git
git flow feature pull origin MYFEATURE	git checkout feature/MYFEATURE
	git pull --rebase origin feature/MYFEATURE

Finalize a feature branch

gitflow	git
git flow feature finish MYFEATURE	git checkout develop
	git merge --no-ff feature/MYFEATURE
	git branch -d feature/MYFEATURE

Push the merged feature branch

gitflow	git
N/A	git push origin develop
	git push origin :feature/MYFEATURE (if pushed)

Releases

Create a release branch

gitflow	git
git flow release start 1.2.0	git checkout -b release/1.2.0 develop

Share a release branch

gitflow	git
git flow release publish 1.2.0	git checkout release/1.2.0
	git push origin release/1.2.0

Get latest for a release branch

gitflow	git
N/A	git checkout release/1.2.0
	git pull --rebase origin release/1.2.0

Finalize a release branch

gitflow	git
git flow release finish 1.2.0	git checkout master
	git merge --no-ff release/1.2.0
	git tag -a 1.2.0
	git checkout develop
	git merge --no-ff release/1.2.0
	git branch -d release/1.2.0

Push the merged feature branch

gitflow	git
N/A	git push origin master
	git push origin develop
	git push origin --tags
	git push origin :release/1.2.0 (if pushed)

Hotfixes

Create a hotfix branch

gitflow	git
git flow hotfix start 1.2.1 [commit]	git checkout -b hotfix/1.2.1 [commit]

Finalize a hotfix branch

gitflow	git
git flow hotfix finish 1.2.1	git checkout master
	git merge --no-ff hotfix/1.2.1
	git tag -a 1.2.1
	git checkout develop
	git merge --no-ff hotfix/1.2.1
	git branch -d hotfix/1.2.1

Push the merged hotfix branch

gitflow	git
N/A	git push origin master
	git push origin develop
	git push origin --tags
	git push origin :hotfix/1.2.1 (if pushed)

References

• http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/
• https://help.github.com/articles/using-pull-requests#shared-repository-model
• Personal experience

@giovannipds Another reason that you might have a release branch that is started and not immediately finished is if you are required to do some intermediary step, such as user acceptance testing, before releasing. In this scenario you would want to have code ready for release on a release branch but also continue developing new features on your development branch.

@rohanorton Thanks.

Why is a colon here?
git push origin :release/1.2.0

@ms2052001 does this answer your question? But I'd say test it in a scenario you wouldn't lose something.

IMO, finishing a feature should read:

git merge --ff feature/MYFEATURE

not --no--ff

Can be verified with --showcommands

git flow feature finish MYFEATURE --showcommands

@peterblazejewicz, the thing here is that features finished consisting of a single commit, it does a --ff.
A feature finish with multiple commits does a '--no-ff'.
Not sure why.
Imo --no-ff is preferred for tree-readablity and uniformity.

Why there is colon here?
git push origin :release/1.2.0

colon is specified to delete the branch from remote origin.

Hi,

If a release has been created as release/1.1.0, how can we bring minor changes on it, in term of branching?
I mean, do we need to create a branch like fix/XXXX coming from release/1.1.0 to do our changes and after merging back to release/1.1.0?

Or what is the best pratices to put our changes in release/1.1.0?

Hi,

To create a Feature or a Release before th command git checkout -b feature/MYFEATURE develop
it wouldn't be better to do a "pull" before ? like :

git checkout develop
git pull origin develop