GitFlow
Opinionated Git workflow scripts! For some excellent information on Git workflows, see Atlassian's Git Tutorials or Vincent Driessen's articles on Git at nvie.com.
This project is still a pre-release -- not all features are working properly yet and I cannot guarantee that the commands will work without issue.
The program is designed to be used in conjunction with Git, not instead of it. The commands are accessible using the gitflow <command> syntax. It doesn't take over the project (this is the least opinionated part of GitFlow) and you should be able to use the program whether you already have an active Git repo or are just creating one. Just use git init to make sure your project is set up for GitFlow.
Installation
Download and compile the program using make. At the terminal:
make install
The program will be installed to your /usr/local/gitflow folder, with a symlink in /usr/local/bin so that you can call GitFlow from anywhere you can call Git!
Usage
GitFlow is an opinionated Git workflow tool with some serious ideas about how to organize your code. It is based on the ideas presented in Vincent Driessen's articles on Git workflows here.
There are six basic commands in GitFlow:
- init
- feature
- release
- patch
- merge
- delete
As well as one more command specific to GitHub:
- gh-pages
Init
The init command sets up your project to use GitFlow. It creates a 'development' branch (also known as an integration branch) in your project if it doesn't already exist and sets some more options for the development workflow specified in the following commands.
gitflow init [-c | --commit] [-g | --gh-pages] <remote_url>
- -c: make a first commit (even if it's empty)
- -g: set up gh-pages
- remote_url: the URL to your project (on GitHub/wherever)
Feature
Every update to your project comes from 'feature' branches. Use the feature command to create a new branch off of 'development'. This is where all of your development will go.
gitflow feature <branch_name> [-d | --delete] [-m | --merge]
Release
Once you have accumulated features and are ready to release a new version, use the release command to create a new release branch off of 'development', make any last minute changes, and then merge the release branch into 'master' and 'development'.
gitflow release <semver_tag> [-d | --delete] [-m | --merge]
- semver_tag: semantic versioning tag (e.g. 'v0.10.0-alpha')
Patch
If, after a release branch has been published, a bug is spotted, the patch command is useful for creating a branch that is used for fixing the issue. It creates a new 'issue' branch off of 'master' that will merge into the 'master' and 'development' branches.
gitflow patch <issue_number> [-d | --delete] [-m | --merge]
- issue_number: the number of the issue addressed by this fix (NOTE: Do not use the hash symbol when writing this number in he command)
Gh-Pages
The gh-pages command is specific to the documentation branch on GitHub. It creates an empty orphan branch that holds all of your documentation and an index.html file which is viewable at: yourusername.github.com/yourproject
gitflow gh-pages [-c | --commit]
- -c: make a first commit (even if it's empty)
Merge
When you're ready to merge your branch into development or master, use this command either by specifying a branch name or while you have the branch you wish to merge checked out. It automatically detects whether the current branch is an issue branch, a feature branch, or a release branch, and merges accordingly.
gitflow merge [<branch_name>]
Delete
The delete command does exactly what it says. Doesn't work on development or master, and, similar to the merge command, it doesn't need a branch name to be specified.
gitflow delete [<branch_name>]
Contributing
The project is under active development. Please contribute! I am not, in any sense, a good C or BASH developer. It would be useful to get some feedback and review on those parts of the program.
It would also be useful to get a Git pro to help out with integrating the C part of the program with the Git API commands instead of relying on the shell scripts.
Un-Installation
If for any reason you want to uninstall GitFlow, run the make uninstall command.