Feature branches are a popular source code management tactic used to manage and coordinate changes made by development teams. Developers create a feature branch is created from the main branch (typically master) and then merge the changes made to that feature branch back to the main branch when they are complete.
What are feature branches in Git?
Git Feature Branch Workflow is branching model focused, meaning that it is a guiding framework for managing and creating branches. Other workflows are more repo focused. The Git Feature Branch Workflow can be incorporated into other workflows.
Are feature branches good?
The more tangled it gets with branches and code, the better. Ten years later, feature branching is a standard in most teams, when in fact it doesn't bring any benefits to your bottom line: release quality software to production. Not only do feature branches provide zero benefits, they actually slow you down!
What is difference between release and feature branch?
A release branch is created from develop. Feature branches are created from develop. When a feature is complete it is merged into the develop branch. When the release branch is done it is merged into develop and main.
Why you should use feature branches?
Creating feature branches helps review changes, enables faster code update approvals, and keeps your main branch solid and high quality. Once a merge happens, the new version can be a starting point for the next feature or bug-fix branch.
How long should a feature branch last?
Simply put, the branch should only last a couple of days. Any longer than two days, and there is a risk of the branch becoming a long-lived feature branch (the antithesis of trunk-based development). Another key rule is how many developers are allowed congregate on a short-lived feature branch.
Do you delete feature branches?
In a good workflow, the feature branch is deleted once its merged back into master. New branches should be created for each new feature(s) that you work on.
What is feature branch in Devops?
Use feature branches for your work These branches are also known as topic branches. Feature branches isolate work in progress from the completed work in the main branch. Git branches are inexpensive to create and maintain. Even small fixes and changes should have their own feature branch.
What are the three types of branching in Git?
The two primary branches in Git flow are main and develop. There are three types of supporting branches with different intended purposes: feature, release, and hotfix.
How do I deploy a feature branch?
When the feature branch is merged into master, a deployment is kicked off which tears the testing infrastructure down and then it automatically deploys the merged code to Staging . After final verification and sign-off, the code is pushed to Production .
Can I merge two feature branches?
Merge branches Merging your branch into master is the most common way to do this. Git creates a new commit (M) that is referred to as a merge commit that results from combining the changes from your feature branch and master from the point where the two branches diverged.
How do you name a feature branch?
Branch naming conventions Use grouping tokens (words) at the beginning of your branch names. Define and use short lead tokens to differentiate branches in a way that is meaningful to your workflow. Use slashes to separate parts of your branch names. Do not use bare numbers as leading parts.
What is the best Git branching strategy?
Keep your branch strategy simpleUse feature branches for all new features and bug fixes.Merge feature branches into the main branch using pull requests.Keep a high quality, up-to-date main branch.
Why you should rebase instead of merge?
But, instead of using a merge commit, rebasing re-writes the project history by creating brand new commits for each commit in the original branch. The major benefit of rebasing is that you get a much cleaner project history. First, it eliminates the unnecessary merge commits required by git merge .
What is a feature branch?
When several developers are working on the same code base then it would be difficult for them to work on the same code base without their work overlapping or overriding each other’s changes.
Why is feature branching important?
So we can conclude that feature branching is a useful technique to allow all work done to be kept away from the shared codebase until it reaches completion. To be able to achieve optimal results with feature branching, it is often necessary to complete features within a day or two at the most as teams that take weeks or months to complete a feature will run into difficulties.
Why use feature flags?
This is where feature flags come in. Using flags allows in-progress changes to be pushed into a shared branch without blocking release from that branch so developers can release the completed feature while keeping incomplete features flipped off. Therefore, developers are in full control of feature lifecycles without relying on code deployments.
What is a feature branch in git?
The Git Feature Branch Workflow is a composable workflow that can be leveraged by other high-level Git workflows. We discussed other Git workflows on the Git workflow overview page. Git Feature Branch Workflow is branching model focused, meaning that it is a guiding framework for managing and creating branches. Other workflows are more repo focused. The Git Feature Branch Workflow can be incorporated into other workflows. The Gitflow, and Git Forking Workflows traditionally use a Git Feature Branch Workflow in regards to their branching models.
What is a branch in coding?
Aside from isolating feature development, branches make it possible to discuss changes via pull requests. Once someone completes a feature, they don’t immediately merge it into main. Instead, they push the feature branch to the central server and file a pull request asking to merge their additions into main. This gives other developers an opportunity to review the changes before they become a part of the main codebase.
What does the -b flag do in Git?
This checks out a branch called new-feature based on main, and the -b flag tells Git to create the branch if it doesn’t already exist.
Is it good to push a feature branch to the central repository?
It’s a good idea to push the feature branch up to the central repository. This serves as a convenient backup, when collaborating with other developers, this would give them access to view commits to the new branch.
Can you edit a branch in git?
Git makes no technical distinction between the main branch and feature branches, so developers can edit, stage, and commit changes to a feature branch. In addition, feature branches can (and should) be pushed to the central repository.
Further Reading
For more details on feature branching, see my long form article on Patterns for Managing Source Code Branches.
Revisions
I published my original post on this URL on 3 Sep 2009. When I published Patterns for Managing Source Code Branches I cut this page down to a short summary.
What Are Feature Flags and Feature Branches?
Feature branches are a software development methodology wherein each new feature is developed in its own feature branch separate from the main code line currently in production. Once the feature is completed, tested, and approved, it can then be merged into the main branch and rolled out to end-users.
How does isolating a feature branch work?
By isolating each feature branch, new features can’t interact with one another until they are merged into the main code line. This approach allows each feature to be developed without the possibility of inadvertently affecting the progress of other teams, but it also means each team is blind to any changes the other teams are making that might affect them.
What is a feature flag?
A feature flag is a toggling feature used in CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous delivery) environments that allows for new features to be deployed directly to the main code line in a disabled state. Once code deployment has occurred, each feature can then be individually enabled for a user, a group of users or a random percentage of any user population from a central admin console and turned off just as easily if needed. Feature flags make testing in production possible so that a developer can verify functionality in production, where whether it works as intended matters most.
Why are feature flags important?
Feature flags reduce the risk of pushing code (complete or not) into production, making it easier (and less scary!) to reduce cycle time from commit to production.
Why are branches important in a project?
Branches aren't just good for feature work. Branches can insulate the team from important architectural changes like updating frameworks, common libraries, etc.
Why bother with branching?
Changes to the branch don't affect other developers on the team. This is a good thing, obviously, because features under development can create instability, which would be highly disruptive if all work was happening on the main code line . But branches need not live in solitary confinement. Developers can easily pull down changes from other developers to collaborate on features and ensure their private branch doesn’t diverge too far from the main.
Why is release branching important?
Release branching is an important part of supporting versioned software out in the market. A single product may have several release branches (e.g., 1.1, 1.2, 2.0) to support sustaining development. Keep in mind that changes in earlier versions (i.e., 1.1) may need to be merged to later release branches (i.e., 1.2, 2.0). Check out our webinar below to learn more about managing release branches with Git.
What is release branching?
Release branching refers to the idea that a release is contained entirely within a branch. This means that late in the development cycle, the release manager will create a branch from the main (e.g., “1.1 development branch”). All changes for the 1.1 release need to be applied twice: once to the 1.1 branch and then to the main code line. Working with two branches is extra work for the team and it's easy to forget to merge to both branches. Release branches can be unwieldy and hard to manage as many people are working on the same branch. We’ve all felt the pain of having to merge many different changes on one single branch. If you must do a release branch, create the branch as close to the actual release as possible.
What is branch in version control?
Depending on your version control system, the main branch may be called mainline, default, or trunk. Developers can create their own branches from the main code line and work independently alongside it.
Why use feature flags in development?
Another benefit of feature flags is that the code can remain within the build but inactive while it 's in development.
Do changes to a branch affect other developers?
Changes to the branch don't affect other developers on the team. This is a good thing, obviously, because features under development can create instability, which would be highly disruptive if all work was happening on the main code line. But branches need not live in solitary confinement.
Why are feature branches so popular?
The real problem with feature branches is the reason they are so popular: they pump a developer’s pride and make you feel good about your work. Your feature branch is your own perfect garden and you can keep it clean and shiny. But it is separated from the other gardens of your team.
How long does a feature branch last?
Not only do feature branches provide zero benefits, they actually slow you down! For the sake of clarity: this article assumes a feature branch will carry the whole feature you are developing and is a so-called ‘long-lived’ feature branch that will last 1 week or more. It’s not a “no branches at all” mantra.
How long do short lived branches last?
A good common ground is to use short-lived branches that last 1 or 2 days max and merge them to the main branch. This way you can humanly control what gets in and still integrate code fast.
Why use longer-lived feature branches?
If your team is highly distributed, in different time zones, has a lot of junior developers who need to learn the project conventions and architecture, using longer-lived feature branches might work better.
What is the upside of pushing to the main branch?
Another upside of pushing to the main branch is that your changes will run live in some environment. It is always good to deploy and battle test your code, even in progress, in some real deploy.
Do you need a feature branch for a code review?
Code reviews do not need feature branches though. If the code review culture is strong in your team then it can very well be done on the commit to the main branch. The reviewer would stop by the author of the commit and discuss what needs to be fixed. The fix would come in another commit.
Can you use feature toggles from the start?
If you are using feature toggles from the start, exposing these on a per-user basis at run time becomes very easy.
