Understanding When to Use Branches

Understanding When to Use Branches

[gw1500]

As a git noobie I am beginning get get my head around git's version
control philosophy. I am now trying to understand the purposes of
branches or rather when to use them. In my case I have a Java
application under version control with git. I am planning to port it
into a mobile app. Is that an appropriate use of branches or should it
be created as a new repository? What is the relationship between the
same source code in different branches? Do changes to code in one branch
get ported to another branch somehow or do all changes then have to be
made twice? The documentation tells how to branch but not the general
philosophy behind it from a best practices standpoint. Thanks in advance
for any insight.

Re: Understanding When to Use Branches

[Konstantin Khomoutov]

On Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:46:21 -0500
gw1500 <wtriker.ffe@gmail.com> wrote:

> As a git noobie I am beginning get get my head around git's version
> control philosophy. I am now trying to understand the purposes of
> branches or rather when to use them. In my case I have a Java
> application under version control with git. I am planning to port it
> into a mobile app. Is that an appropriate use of branches or should it
> be created as a new repository? What is the relationship between the
> same source code in different branches? Do changes to code in one
> branch get ported to another branch somehow or do all changes then
> have to be made twice? The documentation tells how to branch but not
> the general philosophy behind it from a best practices standpoint.
> Thanks in advance for any insight.

Supposedly you should start with the chapter on branching in
The Book [1] and then read two classic blog posts [2, 3] describing two
different branching models.  The branching models described there are
not the only two possible models to use with Git, but they are different
enough to give you a good overview of possibilities.
Note that mere googling for "git branching model" would yield a fair
number of blog posts on people's pet branching models; these two
documents just appear to be more "classic" than others.

If you have difficulty to even grasping the concept of branches and [1]
feeld hard to digest, try first reading "The Git Parable" [4] which, I
think, is the friendliest possible introduction to the basics of DVCS,
branching included.

1. http://git-scm.com/book/en/Git-Branching
2. http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/
3. http://scottchacon.com/2011/08/31/github-flow.html
4. http://tom.preston-werner.com/2009/05/19/the-git-parable.html