Git Feature Branches

Git: Merging a Feature Branch

A common practice among Git users is to use feature branches for individual feature changes or enhancements while work is ongoing. After the feature is complete and tested, it is merged into master. The master branch usually represents all current features that are in a working and deployable state.

The following workflow demonstrates how to accomplish this task. Note that featurebranch below should be changed to something meaningful (i.e. update_to_rubyonrails4).

 1 # optionally start work without a feature branch
 2 # make the feature branch
 3 git checkout -b featurebranch
 4 # work on the feature branch
 5 # add and commit changes
 6 git add -p
 7 git commit
 8 # change to master
 9 git checkout master
10 # merge feature branch into master without commit
11 git merge --no-commit featurebranch
12 # unstage changes in master
13 git reset HEAD
14 # make selective commits
15 git add -p
16 git commit
17 # remove the merged feature branch
18 git branch -d featurebranch # -D if merge was not complete but want the branch deleted
comments powered by Disqus