Notes on Git Branches

git
notes
My notes from Tobias Gunther’s video covering git branches.
Author

Christian Mills

Published

December 29, 2021

Overview

Here are some notes I took while watching Tobias Gunther’s video covering git branches.

The HEAD Branch

  • The currently “active” or “checked out” branch
  • only one can be active at a time

Local and Remote Branches

  • 99% of the time, “working” with branches means your local branches
  • remote branches are more for synchronizing
    • GitHub
    • Git Lab
    • BitBucket
    • Azure DevOps

Creating New Branches

  • You can only create new branches in your local repository
  • Create branches in a remote repository by publishing the branch in the local repository
  • Based on your current HEAD branch
    • git branch <new-branch-name>
  • Based on a different revision
    • git branch <new-branch-name> <revision-hash>

List Branches

  • git branch

Switching Branches

  • Current branch defines where new commits will be created
  • Older
    • git checkout <branch-name>
    • Lots of different uses
  • Newer
    • git switch <branch-name>
    • Specifically for switching branches

Renaming Branches

  • Rename local head branch
    • git branch -m <new-name>
  • Rename different branch
    • git branch -m <target-branch-name> <new-branch-name>
  • Rename remote branch
    1. Delete target branch
      • git push origin --delete <old-name>
    2. Publish new branch with desired name
      • git push -u origin <new-name>

Publish Branch

  • Upload a local branch for the first time
    • git push -u origin <local-branch>
  • -u flag: Tells git to establish a tracking connection
    • makes pushing and pulling easier

Tracking Branches

  • Connecting branches with each other
  • By default, local and remote branches have nothing to do with each other
  • Get remote branch to local branch
    • git branch --track <local-branch-name> <target-remote-branch>
  • Or:
    • git checkout --track <target-remote-branch>
    • Uses remote branch name as local branch name

Pulling and Pushing Branches

  • Synchronizing local and remote branches
  • Much easier when tracking is already enabled
    • git pull
    • git push
  • Git tells you if your local branch and tracked remote branch diverge
    • git branch -v

Deleting Branches

  • Cannot delete current head branch
    • Switch to other branch first
  • Deleting a branch in your local repository
    • git branch -d <branch-name>
    • Might cause errors if you delete a branch with commits that do not exist elsewhere
      • -f flag: force deletion
      • Be careful with this option
  • Deleting a remote branch
    • git push origin --delete <remote-branch-name>
  • When deleting a branch, keep in mind whether you need to delete its remote/local counterpart as well

Merging Branches

  • Integrating changes from another branch into your current local HEAD branch
  • Merging often produces a merge commit
  • Switch to the branch that should receive changes
    • git switch <branch-to-change>
  • Merge the branch with desired changes into current branch
    • git merge <branch-with-changes>

Rebasing Branches

  • An alternative way to integrate changes from another branch into your current local HEAD branch
    • Not really better or worse than merge, just different
    • There is no separate merge commit
    • It appears as if development history happened in a straight line
  • Switch to the branch that should receive changes
    • git switch <branch-to-change>
  • Rebase the branch with desired changes into current branch
    • git rebase <branch with changes>

Comparing Branches

  • Checking which commits are in branch-B, but not in branch-A
  • Between two Local branches
    • git log <branch-A>..<branch-B>
  • Between a Local and Remote branch
    • git log <remote-branch>..<local-branch>

References:

About Me:

I’m Christian Mills, a deep learning consultant specializing in practical AI implementations. I help clients leverage cutting-edge AI technologies to solve real-world problems.

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