Managing Branches

Introduction

Branch is the most commonly used management method in the version management tool. Branches can be used to isolate tasks in project development from each other so that they do not affect each other. Before releasing a version, you can use the Branch Merging to integrate the tasks.

When you create a CodeHub or Git repository, a master branch is generated by default and used as the branch of the latest version. You can create custom branches at any time for personalized scenarios.

GitFlow

As a branch-based code management workflow, GitFlow is highly recognized and widely used in the industry. It is recommended for you to start team-based development.

Creating a Branch on the Console

1. Access the repository list.
2. Click a repository to go to the details page.
3. Switch to the Branches tab page. Branches in the remote repository are displayed.
4. Click Create Branch. In the displayed dialog box, select a version (branch or tag) based on which you want to create a branch and enter the branch name. You can associate the branch with an existing work item.
5. Click OK. The branch list is displayed.

Managing Branches on the Console

You can perform the following operations in the branch list:

• Filtering branches
  • All: displays all branches. The default branch is displayed on the top. Other branches are sorted by the last commit time in descending order.
  • Active: displays the branches that have been developing in the past three months. Branches are sorted by the last commit time in descending order.
  • Inactive: displays the branches that have not been developed in the past three months. Branches are sorted by the last commit time in descending order.
• You can click a branch to go to the Files tab page of the branch and view its content and history.
• You can click a latest commit to view the content committed on the details page.
• You can click to go to the Comparison tab page and compare the current branch with another branch.
• Click to download its compressed package.
• You can click to create a merge request for a branch on the Merge Requests tab page.
• You can click to delete a branch as prompted.

In addition, you can configure branches as follows on the console:

• Merge Requests
• Default Branch
• Protected Branches

Common Git Commands for Branches

• Creating a branch

  git branch <branch_name>           # Create a branch based on the current working directory in the local repository.

  Example:

  git branch branch001            # Create a branch named branch001 based on the current working directory in the local repository.

  If no command output is displayed, the creation is successful. If the branch name already exists, as shown in the following figure, create a branch with another name.

  

• Switching a branch
  Switching a branch is to check out the branch file content to the current working directory.

  git checkout <branch_name>        # Switch to a specified branch.

  Example:

  git checkout  branch002        # Switch to branch002.

  The following information shows that the switch is successful.

  

• Switching to a new branch

  You can run the following command to create a branch and switch to the new branch directly.

  git checkout -b <branch_name>     # Create a branch based on the current working directory in the local repository and directly switch to the branch.

  Example:

  git checkout -b branch002      # Create a branch named branch002 based on the current working directory in the local repository and directly switch to the branch.

  The following information shows that the command is successfully executed.

  

• Viewing a branch

  Run the following commands to view the branches of the local repository, remote repository, or all. These commands list only the branch names. To view the specific files in a branch, run the command in Switching a branch.

  git branch                              # View the local repository branch.

  git branch -r                           # View the remote repository branch.

  git branch -a                           # View the branches of the local and remote repositories.

  The following figure shows the execution result of the three commands in sequence. Git displays the branches of the local and remote repositories in different formats. (Remote repository branches are displayed in the format of remote/<remote_repository_alias>/<branch_name>.)

  

• Merging a branch

  When a development task on a branch is complete, the branch needs to be merged into another branch to synchronize the latest changes.

  git merge <name_of_the_branch_merged_to_the_current_branch>        # Merge a branch into the current branch.

  Before merging a branch, you need to switch to the target branch. The following describes how to merge branch002 into the master branch.

  git checkout master                       # Switch to the master branch.
  git merge branch002                       # Merge branch002 into the master branch.

  The following figure shows the execution result of the preceding command. The merge is successful, and three lines are added to a file.

  

  

  The system may prompt that a merge conflict occurs. The following shows that a conflict occurs in the fileOnBranch002.txt file.

  

  To resolve the conflict, open the conflicting file, manually edit the conflicting code (as shown in the following figure), and save the file. Then run the add and commit commands again to save the result to the local repository.

  

  This is similar to resolving a conflict that occurs when you commit a file from the local repository to the remote repository. For details about the working principle, see Resolving Code Commit Conflicts.

  A proper collaboration mode can prevent conflicts.

• Deleting a local branch

  git branch -d <branch_name>

  Example:

  git branch -d branch002          # Delete branch002 from the local repository. The following information shows that the operation is successful.

  

• Deleting a branch from the remote repository

  git push <remote_repository_address_or_alias> -d <branch_name>

  Example:

  git push HTTPSOrigin -d branch002        # Delete branch002 from the remote repository whose alias is HTTPSOrigin. The following information shows that the deletion is successful.

  

• Pushing a new local branch to the remote repository

  git push <remote_repository_address_or_alias> <branch_name>

  Example:

  git push HTTPSOrigin branch002        # Push the local branch branch002 to the remote repository whose alias is HTTPSOrigin. The following information shows that the push is successful.

  

If the push fails, check the connectivity.

Check the established SSH key pair. If necessary, regenerate a key and configure it on the CodeHub console. For details, see SSH Keys.