Managing Git Branches

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Table of contents

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1. Branch concepts
2. Creating and deleting branches
3. Switching between branches
4. Merging branches
5. Branching strategies
6. Best practices

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1 - Branch concepts

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What is a branch?

A branch is simply a pointer to a commit.

      A---B---C  feature
     /
D---E---F---G    main
            ↑
           HEAD

Why use branches?

Use	Example
New feature	feature/login
Bug fix	fix/button-click
Experimentation	experiment/new-ui
Releases	release/v2.0

The main/master branch

• The project's main branch
• Contains the production code
• Should always be stable

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2 - Creating and deleting branches

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Create a branch

# Créer une branche (sans y aller)
git branch feature/login

# Créer et aller sur la branche
git checkout -b feature/login

# Syntaxe moderne
git switch -c feature/login

Create from a specific commit

git branch feature/old-version abc1234

List branches

# Branches locales
git branch

# Branches avec dernier commit
git branch -v

# Toutes les branches (locales + remote)
git branch -a

# Branches mergées
git branch --merged

# Branches non mergées
git branch --no-merged

Delete a branch

# Supprimer (si mergée)
git branch -d feature/login

# Forcer la suppression
git branch -D feature/login

# Supprimer sur le remote
git push origin --delete feature/login

Rename a branch

# Renommer la branche actuelle
git branch -m nouveau-nom

# Renommer une autre branche
git branch -m ancien-nom nouveau-nom

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3 - Switching between branches

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Switch branch

# Ancienne syntaxe
git checkout feature/login

# Nouvelle syntaxe (Git 2.23+)
git switch feature/login

Return to the previous branch

git checkout -
git switch -

Check the current branch

git branch --show-current
git status  # Affiche aussi la branche

Watch out for uncommitted changes

# Si vous avez des modifications non commitées
git checkout feature/login
# error: Your local changes would be overwritten

# Solutions :
# 1. Commiter
git commit -am "wip"

# 2. Stasher
git stash
git checkout feature/login
git stash pop  # Quand vous revenez

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4 - Merging branches

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Basic merge

# Aller sur la branche destination
git checkout main

# Fusionner la feature branch
git merge feature/login

Types of merge

Fast-forward merge

When main hasn't changed since the branch was created:

Avant:
D---E  main
     \
      A---B  feature

Après (fast-forward):
D---E---A---B  main, feature

git merge feature  # Fast-forward automatique

Merge commit

When main has evolved:

Avant:
      A---B  feature
     /
D---E---F  main

Après:
      A---B
     /     \
D---E---F---M  main

git merge feature  # Crée un merge commit

Force a merge commit

git merge --no-ff feature/login

Advantage: The history clearly shows where the feature was integrated.

Undo a merge

# Pendant le merge (conflits)
git merge --abort

# Après le merge
git reset --hard HEAD~1

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5 - Branching strategies

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Git Flow

A complete structure for large projects:

main ─────────────●─────────────────●───────
                  ↑                 ↑
release ─────────●───────●         ●───────
                 ↑       ↑         ↑
develop ────●────●───────●─────────●───────
            ↑    ↑       ↑         ↑
feature ────●────●       │         │
                         │         │
hotfix ──────────────────●─────────┘

Branch	Use
main	Production
develop	Integration
feature/*	New features
release/*	Release preparation
hotfix/*	Urgent fixes

GitHub Flow

Simpler, ideal for continuous deployment:

main ────●────●────●────●────●────
         ↑    ↑    ↑
feature ─●    │    │
              │    │
feature ──────●    │
                   │
feature ───────────●

1. Create a branch from main
2. Make commits
3. Open a Pull Request
4. Review and discussion
5. Merge into main
6. Deploy

Trunk-Based Development

Everyone works on main with feature flags:

main ────●────●────●────●────●────
         ↑    ↑    ↑    ↑    ↑
        dev1 dev2 dev1 dev3 dev2

Ideal for: Experienced teams, very frequent deployment.

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6 - Best practices

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Branch naming

# Format recommandé
type/description-courte

# Exemples
feature/user-authentication
fix/login-button
hotfix/security-patch
release/v2.1.0

✅ Do

Practice	Reason
Short-lived branches	Fewer conflicts
One goal per branch	Easier reviews
Merge main regularly	Stay up to date
Delete after merge	Keep things clean

❌ Avoid

Practice	Risk
Long-lived branches	Difficult conflicts
Vague names (fix, test)	Confusion
Working directly on main	Unstable code

Command summary

Command	Description
git branch	List the branches
git branch nom	Create a branch
git checkout -b nom	Create and switch to the branch
git switch nom	Switch branch
git merge nom	Merge a branch
git branch -d nom	Delete a branch

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