`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 git@github.com: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

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