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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/gitworkflows.txt | 115 |
1 files changed, 115 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/gitworkflows.txt b/Documentation/gitworkflows.txt index 2b021e3c15..91c0eea890 100644 --- a/Documentation/gitworkflows.txt +++ b/Documentation/gitworkflows.txt @@ -209,6 +209,121 @@ chance to see if their in-progress work will be compatible. `git.git` has such an official throw-away integration branch called 'pu'. +Branch management for a release +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Assuming you are using the merge approach discussed above, when you +are releasing your project you will need to do some additional branch +management work. + +A feature release is created from the 'master' branch, since 'master' +tracks the commits that should go into the next feature release. + +The 'master' branch is supposed to be a superset of 'maint'. If this +condition does not hold, then 'maint' contains some commits that +are not included on 'master'. The fixes represented by those commits +will therefore not be included in your feature release. + +To verify that 'master' is indeed a superset of 'maint', use git log: + +.Verify 'master' is a superset of 'maint' +[caption="Recipe: "] +===================================== +git log master..maint +===================================== + +This command should not list any commits. Otherwise, check out +'master' and merge 'maint' into it. + +Now you can proceed with the creation of the feature release. Apply a +tag to the tip of 'master' indicating the release version: + +.Release tagging +[caption="Recipe: "] +===================================== +`git tag -s -m "GIT X.Y.Z" vX.Y.Z master` +===================================== + +You need to push the new tag to a public git server (see +"DISTRIBUTED WORKFLOWS" below). This makes the tag available to +others tracking your project. The push could also trigger a +post-update hook to perform release-related items such as building +release tarballs and preformatted documentation pages. + +Similarly, for a maintenance release, 'maint' is tracking the commits +to be released. Therefore, in the steps above simply tag and push +'maint' rather than 'master'. + + +Maintenance branch management after a feature release +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +After a feature release, you need to manage your maintenance branches. + +First, if you wish to continue to release maintenance fixes for the +feature release made before the recent one, then you must create +another branch to track commits for that previous release. + +To do this, the current maintenance branch is copied to another branch +named with the previous release version number (e.g. maint-X.Y.(Z-1) +where X.Y.Z is the current release). + +.Copy maint +[caption="Recipe: "] +===================================== +`git branch maint-X.Y.(Z-1) maint` +===================================== + +The 'maint' branch should now be fast-forwarded to the newly released +code so that maintenance fixes can be tracked for the current release: + +.Update maint to new release +[caption="Recipe: "] +===================================== +* `git checkout maint` +* `git merge --ff-only master` +===================================== + +If the merge fails because it is not a fast-forward, then it is +possible some fixes on 'maint' were missed in the feature release. +This will not happen if the content of the branches was verified as +described in the previous section. + + +Branch management for next and pu after a feature release +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +After a feature release, the integration branch 'next' may optionally be +rewound and rebuilt from the tip of 'master' using the surviving +topics on 'next': + +.Rewind and rebuild next +[caption="Recipe: "] +===================================== +* `git checkout next` +* `git reset --hard master` +* `git merge ai/topic_in_next1` +* `git merge ai/topic_in_next2` +* ... +===================================== + +The advantage of doing this is that the history of 'next' will be +clean. For example, some topics merged into 'next' may have initially +looked promising, but were later found to be undesirable or premature. +In such a case, the topic is reverted out of 'next' but the fact +remains in the history that it was once merged and reverted. By +recreating 'next', you give another incarnation of such topics a clean +slate to retry, and a feature release is a good point in history to do +so. + +If you do this, then you should make a public announcement indicating +that 'next' was rewound and rebuilt. + +The same rewind and rebuild process may be followed for 'pu'. A public +announcement is not necessary since 'pu' is a throw-away branch, as +described above. + + DISTRIBUTED WORKFLOWS --------------------- |