Gitflow
Gitflow is a branching model that helps teams manage their codebase by defining a strict branching strategy. It was created by Vincent Driessen and is widely used in the software industry.
Only use Gitflow if you are working on a large project with numerous developers and/or multiple development teams. For small projects, Gitflow IS overkill and will cause slowdown due to complexity. Large here means projects such as the Youtube mobile app, or projects with 100+ developers across multiple teams where releases are not happening on a daily basis (typically).
Advice: Be pragmatic. And be cautious if you see Gitflow being used in a small project.
Gitflow defines two primary branches:
main: The main branch that contains the production-ready code.develop: The main branch that contains the latest development code.
Additionally, it defines three types of supporting branches:
feature: Branches used to develop new features.release: Branches used to prepare a new release.hotfix: Branches used to fix bugs in the production code.
Source: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/gitflow-workflow
Feature branches
Feature branches are used to develop new features or bug fixes. They are created from the develop branch and merged back into the develop branch when the feature is complete.
Source: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/gitflow-workflow
Release branches
Release branches are used to prepare a new release. They are created from the develop branch and merged back into the develop and main branches when the release is complete.
Source: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/gitflow-workflow
Hotfix branches
Feature branches are used to develop new features or bug fixes. They are created from the develop branch and merged back into the develop branch when the feature is complete.
Source: https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/gitflow-workflow
So.. what is challenging in this from a developer perspective?
- Complexity: Gitflow is complex and can be difficult to understand for new developers.
- Overhead: Gitflow introduces overhead in terms of managing multiple branches.
- Slowdown: Gitflow can slow down the development process due to the complexity of managing multiple branches.
- Merge conflicts: Gitflow can lead to more merge conflicts due to the number of branches that need to be merged.
- Overkill: Gitflow is overkill for small projects with a small team of developers.
- Release management: Gitflow can be cumbersome for managing releases.
There are simpler alternatives—One is called trunk-based development.