Browse Source
* tr/workflow-doc: Documentation: add manpage about workflows Documentation: Refer to git-rebase(1) to warn against rewriting Documentation: new upstream rebase recovery section in git-rebasemaint
Junio C Hamano
16 years ago
6 changed files with 500 additions and 8 deletions
@ -0,0 +1,364 @@
@@ -0,0 +1,364 @@
|
||||
gitworkflows(7) |
||||
=============== |
||||
|
||||
NAME |
||||
---- |
||||
gitworkflows - An overview of recommended workflows with git |
||||
|
||||
SYNOPSIS |
||||
-------- |
||||
git * |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
DESCRIPTION |
||||
----------- |
||||
|
||||
This document attempts to write down and motivate some of the workflow |
||||
elements used for `git.git` itself. Many ideas apply in general, |
||||
though the full workflow is rarely required for smaller projects with |
||||
fewer people involved. |
||||
|
||||
We formulate a set of 'rules' for quick reference, while the prose |
||||
tries to motivate each of them. Do not always take them literally; |
||||
you should value good reasons for your actions higher than manpages |
||||
such as this one. |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
SEPARATE CHANGES |
||||
---------------- |
||||
|
||||
As a general rule, you should try to split your changes into small |
||||
logical steps, and commit each of them. They should be consistent, |
||||
working independently of any later commits, pass the test suite, etc. |
||||
This makes the review process much easier, and the history much more |
||||
useful for later inspection and analysis, for example with |
||||
linkgit:git-blame[1] and linkgit:git-bisect[1]. |
||||
|
||||
To achieve this, try to split your work into small steps from the very |
||||
beginning. It is always easier to squash a few commits together than |
||||
to split one big commit into several. Don't be afraid of making too |
||||
small or imperfect steps along the way. You can always go back later |
||||
and edit the commits with `git rebase \--interactive` before you |
||||
publish them. You can use `git stash save \--keep-index` to run the |
||||
test suite independent of other uncommitted changes; see the EXAMPLES |
||||
section of linkgit:git-stash[1]. |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
MANAGING BRANCHES |
||||
----------------- |
||||
|
||||
There are two main tools that can be used to include changes from one |
||||
branch on another: linkgit:git-merge[1] and |
||||
linkgit:git-cherry-pick[1]. |
||||
|
||||
Merges have many advantages, so we try to solve as many problems as |
||||
possible with merges alone. Cherry-picking is still occasionally |
||||
useful; see "Merging upwards" below for an example. |
||||
|
||||
Most importantly, merging works at the branch level, while |
||||
cherry-picking works at the commit level. This means that a merge can |
||||
carry over the changes from 1, 10, or 1000 commits with equal ease, |
||||
which in turn means the workflow scales much better to a large number |
||||
of contributors (and contributions). Merges are also easier to |
||||
understand because a merge commit is a "promise" that all changes from |
||||
all its parents are now included. |
||||
|
||||
There is a tradeoff of course: merges require a more careful branch |
||||
management. The following subsections discuss the important points. |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Graduation |
||||
~~~~~~~~~~ |
||||
|
||||
As a given feature goes from experimental to stable, it also |
||||
"graduates" between the corresponding branches of the software. |
||||
`git.git` uses the following 'integration branches': |
||||
|
||||
* 'maint' tracks the commits that should go into the next "maintenance |
||||
release", i.e., update of the last released stable version; |
||||
|
||||
* 'master' tracks the commits that should go into the next release; |
||||
|
||||
* 'next' is intended as a testing branch for topics being tested for |
||||
stability for master. |
||||
|
||||
There is a fourth official branch that is used slightly differently: |
||||
|
||||
* 'pu' (proposed updates) is an integration branch for things that are |
||||
not quite ready for inclusion yet (see "Integration Branches" |
||||
below). |
||||
|
||||
Each of the four branches is usually a direct descendant of the one |
||||
above it. |
||||
|
||||
Conceptually, the feature enters at an unstable branch (usually 'next' |
||||
or 'pu'), and "graduates" to 'master' for the next release once it is |
||||
considered stable enough. |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Merging upwards |
||||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
||||
|
||||
The "downwards graduation" discussed above cannot be done by actually |
||||
merging downwards, however, since that would merge 'all' changes on |
||||
the unstable branch into the stable one. Hence the following: |
||||
|
||||
.Merge upwards |
||||
[caption="Rule: "] |
||||
===================================== |
||||
Always commit your fixes to the oldest supported branch that require |
||||
them. Then (periodically) merge the integration branches upwards into each |
||||
other. |
||||
===================================== |
||||
|
||||
This gives a very controlled flow of fixes. If you notice that you |
||||
have applied a fix to e.g. 'master' that is also required in 'maint', |
||||
you will need to cherry-pick it (using linkgit:git-cherry-pick[1]) |
||||
downwards. This will happen a few times and is nothing to worry about |
||||
unless you do it very frequently. |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Topic branches |
||||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
||||
|
||||
Any nontrivial feature will require several patches to implement, and |
||||
may get extra bugfixes or improvements during its lifetime. |
||||
|
||||
Committing everything directly on the integration branches leads to many |
||||
problems: Bad commits cannot be undone, so they must be reverted one |
||||
by one, which creates confusing histories and further error potential |
||||
when you forget to revert part of a group of changes. Working in |
||||
parallel mixes up the changes, creating further confusion. |
||||
|
||||
Use of "topic branches" solves these problems. The name is pretty |
||||
self explanatory, with a caveat that comes from the "merge upwards" |
||||
rule above: |
||||
|
||||
.Topic branches |
||||
[caption="Rule: "] |
||||
===================================== |
||||
Make a side branch for every topic (feature, bugfix, ...). Fork it off |
||||
at the oldest integration branch that you will eventually want to merge it |
||||
into. |
||||
===================================== |
||||
|
||||
Many things can then be done very naturally: |
||||
|
||||
* To get the feature/bugfix into an integration branch, simply merge |
||||
it. If the topic has evolved further in the meantime, merge again. |
||||
(Note that you do not necessarily have to merge it to the oldest |
||||
integration branch first. For example, you can first merge a bugfix |
||||
to 'next', give it some testing time, and merge to 'maint' when you |
||||
know it is stable.) |
||||
|
||||
* If you find you need new features from the branch 'other' to continue |
||||
working on your topic, merge 'other' to 'topic'. (However, do not |
||||
do this "just habitually", see below.) |
||||
|
||||
* If you find you forked off the wrong branch and want to move it |
||||
"back in time", use linkgit:git-rebase[1]. |
||||
|
||||
Note that the last point clashes with the other two: a topic that has |
||||
been merged elsewhere should not be rebased. See the section on |
||||
RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE in linkgit:git-rebase[1]. |
||||
|
||||
We should point out that "habitually" (regularly for no real reason) |
||||
merging an integration branch into your topics -- and by extension, |
||||
merging anything upstream into anything downstream on a regular basis |
||||
-- is frowned upon: |
||||
|
||||
.Merge to downstream only at well-defined points |
||||
[caption="Rule: "] |
||||
===================================== |
||||
Do not merge to downstream except with a good reason: upstream API |
||||
changes affect your branch; your branch no longer merges to upstream |
||||
cleanly; etc. |
||||
===================================== |
||||
|
||||
Otherwise, the topic that was merged to suddenly contains more than a |
||||
single (well-separated) change. The many resulting small merges will |
||||
greatly clutter up history. Anyone who later investigates the history |
||||
of a file will have to find out whether that merge affected the topic |
||||
in development. An upstream might even inadvertently be merged into a |
||||
"more stable" branch. And so on. |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Throw-away integration |
||||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
||||
|
||||
If you followed the last paragraph, you will now have many small topic |
||||
branches, and occasionally wonder how they interact. Perhaps the |
||||
result of merging them does not even work? But on the other hand, we |
||||
want to avoid merging them anywhere "stable" because such merges |
||||
cannot easily be undone. |
||||
|
||||
The solution, of course, is to make a merge that we can undo: merge |
||||
into a throw-away branch. |
||||
|
||||
.Throw-away integration branches |
||||
[caption="Rule: "] |
||||
===================================== |
||||
To test the interaction of several topics, merge them into a |
||||
throw-away branch. You must never base any work on such a branch! |
||||
===================================== |
||||
|
||||
If you make it (very) clear that this branch is going to be deleted |
||||
right after the testing, you can even publish this branch, for example |
||||
to give the testers a chance to work with it, or other developers a |
||||
chance to see if their in-progress work will be compatible. `git.git` |
||||
has such an official throw-away integration branch called 'pu'. |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
DISTRIBUTED WORKFLOWS |
||||
--------------------- |
||||
|
||||
After the last section, you should know how to manage topics. In |
||||
general, you will not be the only person working on the project, so |
||||
you will have to share your work. |
||||
|
||||
Roughly speaking, there are two important workflows: merge and patch. |
||||
The important difference is that the merge workflow can propagate full |
||||
history, including merges, while patches cannot. Both workflows can |
||||
be used in parallel: in `git.git`, only subsystem maintainers use |
||||
the merge workflow, while everyone else sends patches. |
||||
|
||||
Note that the maintainer(s) may impose restrictions, such as |
||||
"Signed-off-by" requirements, that all commits/patches submitted for |
||||
inclusion must adhere to. Consult your project's documentation for |
||||
more information. |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Merge workflow |
||||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
||||
|
||||
The merge workflow works by copying branches between upstream and |
||||
downstream. Upstream can merge contributions into the official |
||||
history; downstream base their work on the official history. |
||||
|
||||
There are three main tools that can be used for this: |
||||
|
||||
* linkgit:git-push[1] copies your branches to a remote repository, |
||||
usually to one that can be read by all involved parties; |
||||
|
||||
* linkgit:git-fetch[1] that copies remote branches to your repository; |
||||
and |
||||
|
||||
* linkgit:git-pull[1] that does fetch and merge in one go. |
||||
|
||||
Note the last point. Do 'not' use 'git-pull' unless you actually want |
||||
to merge the remote branch. |
||||
|
||||
Getting changes out is easy: |
||||
|
||||
.Push/pull: Publishing branches/topics |
||||
[caption="Recipe: "] |
||||
===================================== |
||||
`git push <remote> <branch>` and tell everyone where they can fetch |
||||
from. |
||||
===================================== |
||||
|
||||
You will still have to tell people by other means, such as mail. (Git |
||||
provides the linkgit:request-pull[1] to send preformatted pull |
||||
requests to upstream maintainers to simplify this task.) |
||||
|
||||
If you just want to get the newest copies of the integration branches, |
||||
staying up to date is easy too: |
||||
|
||||
.Push/pull: Staying up to date |
||||
[caption="Recipe: "] |
||||
===================================== |
||||
Use `git fetch <remote>` or `git remote update` to stay up to date. |
||||
===================================== |
||||
|
||||
Then simply fork your topic branches from the stable remotes as |
||||
explained earlier. |
||||
|
||||
If you are a maintainer and would like to merge other people's topic |
||||
branches to the integration branches, they will typically send a |
||||
request to do so by mail. Such a request looks like |
||||
|
||||
------------------------------------- |
||||
Please pull from |
||||
<url> <branch> |
||||
------------------------------------- |
||||
|
||||
In that case, 'git-pull' can do the fetch and merge in one go, as |
||||
follows. |
||||
|
||||
.Push/pull: Merging remote topics |
||||
[caption="Recipe: "] |
||||
===================================== |
||||
`git pull <url> <branch>` |
||||
===================================== |
||||
|
||||
Occasionally, the maintainer may get merge conflicts when he tries to |
||||
pull changes from downstream. In this case, he can ask downstream to |
||||
do the merge and resolve the conflicts themselves (perhaps they will |
||||
know better how to resolve them). It is one of the rare cases where |
||||
downstream 'should' merge from upstream. |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Patch workflow |
||||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
||||
|
||||
If you are a contributor that sends changes upstream in the form of |
||||
emails, you should use topic branches as usual (see above). Then use |
||||
linkgit:git-format-patch[1] to generate the corresponding emails |
||||
(highly recommended over manually formatting them because it makes the |
||||
maintainer's life easier). |
||||
|
||||
.format-patch/am: Publishing branches/topics |
||||
[caption="Recipe: "] |
||||
===================================== |
||||
* `git format-patch -M upstream..topic` to turn them into preformatted |
||||
patch files |
||||
* `git send-email --to=<recipient> <patches>` |
||||
===================================== |
||||
|
||||
See the linkgit:git-format-patch[1] and linkgit:git-send-email[1] |
||||
manpages for further usage notes. |
||||
|
||||
If the maintainer tells you that your patch no longer applies to the |
||||
current upstream, you will have to rebase your topic (you cannot use a |
||||
merge because you cannot format-patch merges): |
||||
|
||||
.format-patch/am: Keeping topics up to date |
||||
[caption="Recipe: "] |
||||
===================================== |
||||
`git pull --rebase <url> <branch>` |
||||
===================================== |
||||
|
||||
You can then fix the conflicts during the rebase. Presumably you have |
||||
not published your topic other than by mail, so rebasing it is not a |
||||
problem. |
||||
|
||||
If you receive such a patch series (as maintainer, or perhaps as a |
||||
reader of the mailing list it was sent to), save the mails to files, |
||||
create a new topic branch and use 'git-am' to import the commits: |
||||
|
||||
.format-patch/am: Importing patches |
||||
[caption="Recipe: "] |
||||
===================================== |
||||
`git am < patch` |
||||
===================================== |
||||
|
||||
One feature worth pointing out is the three-way merge, which can help |
||||
if you get conflicts: `git am -3` will use index information contained |
||||
in patches to figure out the merge base. See linkgit:git-am[1] for |
||||
other options. |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
SEE ALSO |
||||
-------- |
||||
linkgit:gittutorial[7], |
||||
linkgit:git-push[1], |
||||
linkgit:git-pull[1], |
||||
linkgit:git-merge[1], |
||||
linkgit:git-rebase[1], |
||||
linkgit:git-format-patch[1], |
||||
linkgit:git-send-email[1], |
||||
linkgit:git-am[1] |
||||
|
||||
GIT |
||||
--- |
||||
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite. |
Loading…
Reference in new issue