Branching

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1. Introduction to Git
2. Installing Git
3. First-time Git setup
4. Cloning (i.e. downloading for the first time)
5. Ignoring files
6. Viewing the revision history
7. Using Git GUI
8. Branching
9. Committing
10. Tagging
11. Merging
12. Receiving updates (aka pulling)
13. Using patches to share your updates with others
14. Advanced Git usage
15. Git and Github tutorials

Overview

On this page, we describe how to create new branches with Git.

Creating branches

There are several ways that you can create new branches with Git.

Use Git Gui to create a new branch

(1) Start git GUI:

git gui &

(2) Select Branch/Create on the menu bar (or type CTRL-N).

(3) A dialog box will appear. Type the name of the new branch and click on Create.

NOTE: Your new branch name should adhere to the Gitflow nomenclature.

(4) Git will automatically check out the new branch that you just created.

Use Gitk to create a new branch

You can also create a new branch very quickly from the Gitk browser.

(1) Start gitk

gitk --all &

(2) Move your mouse to the name of the commit from which you would like to create a new branch. Right-click on the name of that commit.

(3) A context menu will appear. Select Create New Branch.

(4) A dialog box will appear. Type the name for your branch and click on Create.

Your new branch name should adhere to the Gitflow nomenclature.

Git will automatically check out the new branch that you just created.

Create a new branch from the command line

(1) First, check out the branch that you wish to branch off from. In this case, let's branch off master.

git checkout master

(2a) If you are creating a new feature branch, then type:

git branch feature/NAME
git checkout feature/NAME

(2b) On the other hand, if you are creating a bugfix branch, then type:

git branch bugfix/NAME
git checkout bugfix/NAME

where NAME is to be the name of the feature or bug fix that you are implementing.

--Bob Yantosca (talk) 15:25, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

Switching between (aka "checking out") branches

Check out a branch with Git GUI

(1) Start Git GUI.

git gui &

(2) Select the Branch/Checkout menu item.

(3) A dialog box will appear. Click on the name of the branch you would like to check out.

(4) Click on Checkout.

Check out a branch with GitK

(1) Start Gitk.

gitk --all &

(2) Right-click the GREEN BOX that correponds to the branch that you would like to check out.

(3) A context menu will appear. Click on Check out this branch.

Check out a branch from the command line

If you are in a Git-backed code directory, and want to know what the current branch is, type:

git checkout BRANCH-NAME

If you would like to check the current branch in a different directory, use the -C option. Type:

git -C /path/to/Code checkout BRANCH-NAME

Determining which branch is checked out

You can determine which branch is currently checked-out as follows:

Using this:	Follow these steps:
Git GUI	Look at the top left (under the Repository menu), and you will see the name the branch that is currently checked-out.
Gitk	Look for the GREEN BOX with the boldfaced name inside. This indicates the branch that is currently checked-out.
The command line	Type: git branch and you will see all of the branches: dev/12.4.0 *master The branch that is currently checked-out will have an * in front of it. NOTE: If you want to check which branch is checked out in a different code directory, type: git -C /path/to/Code branch where /path/to/Code is the path to the other code directory.

Deleting branches

There are several ways that you can delete Git branches:

Deleting branches with Git GUI

(1) Start Git GUI

git gui &

(2) Select the Branch/Delete menu item.

(3) A dialog box will appear. Select the name of the branch that you wish to delete.

(4) Click on Delete.

Deleting branches with Gitk

(1) Start Gitk.

gitk --all &

(2) Right-click on the GREEN BOX that denotes the name of the branch that you wish to delete. A context menu will appear.

(3) Click on Remove this branch.

Deleting branches from the command line

To remove a Git branch from the command line, type:

git branch -d BRANCH-NAME

Deleting references to remote branches

For more information, please see this section on our Advanced Git usage page.

--Bob Yantosca (talk) 15:39, 24 June 2019 (UTC)

Further reading

1. Basic branching and merging (Pro Git book)
2. Using branches (Atlassian Git tutorial)
3. Learn Git branching]
4. GitFlow (DataSift)

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