42 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
42 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: Feature branches cause merge conflicts
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date: 2025-02-18
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permalink: daily/2025/02/18/conflicts
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tags:
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- software-development
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- git
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cta: ~
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snippet: |
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PSA: feature branches cause merge conflicts.
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---
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A common approach I see on software projects is where Developers create separate Git branches for each task they work on.
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This commonly matches issues or ticket on a sprint board or issue tracker.
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Each ticket is worked on independently and merged into a long-lived mainline branch once complete.
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This type of approach is commonly called Git Flow or GitHub Flow.
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It's something [I've given presentations][0] on in the past.
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A common downfall is that different branches can conflict with each other - either due to a merge conflict where the same lines are changed in different branches, or incompatible code is written that works separately but not when merged together.
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I used to work this way, even when working on projects as the only Developer.
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One time, I was demoing two features to a client and needed to switch branches and doing so broke what it was trying to show.
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These days, I avoid conflicts between branches by not branching.
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Everyone works on a single branch and pulls and pushes changes regularly.
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If you're [doing continuous integration][1], that should be once a day as an absolute minimum.
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I do [test-driven development][2] and usually commit after each passing test.
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If you work on a single branch and pull and push changes regularly, you're much less likely to get merge conflicts and Developers can focus on pushing code instead of fixing merge conflicts.
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[0]: {{site.url}}/presentations/git-flow
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[1]: {{site.url}}/daily/2025/02/17/ci-cd
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[2]: {{site.url}}/atdc
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