GIT Branching Guidelines

Git Branching Guidelines

1. General Setup

1.1 Production Branch (master):

The primary branch reflecting the production-ready state. Deployment: Directly from this branch to the production server.

1.2 QA Branch (dev):

Used for staging and testing before production. Deployment: To the sandbox server for testing.

2. Branch Protection

Protected Branches: Both master and dev. No direct pushes allowed; changes must be made via pull requests. Pull Requests: Require reviews and approvals from at least one developer other than the author.

3. Branching for Development

3.1 Sprint Branches: Naming: sprint-X where X is the sprint number. Based on: Created from dev at the start of each sprint. 3.2 Feature Branches: Naming: Using the Jira ticket number, e.g. JIRA-123-<branchname>. Based on: Branched off from the respective sprint-X branch. Purpose: Development of individual features or main tickets. Maintenance: May be maintained by one or more developers. 3.3 Subtask Branches: Optional: Depending on the scale of subtasks and the number of developers. Based on: Optionally branch off from the associated feature branch using the same naming convention. 4. Development Workflow 4.1 Daily Commits: Developers must commit changes to their respective feature branches on a daily basis 4.2 Completing a Feature: Merge completed feature branches back into the respective sprint-X branch via pull requests 4.3 Merging to QA (dev branch): Post-development, sprint-X branches are merged into dev. Any number of merges can be done during the lifecycle of a sprint Requires a pull request and approval from a developer not involved in the pull request. Approver must do code review and can approve or reject the code with relevant comments 5. QA and Bug Fixes 5.1 QA Testing: Features merged into dev are moved to QA for testing. 5.2 Handling Bugs: Bugs are fixed within the original feature branch and merged back into dev as described above. 6. Release Preparation End of Sprint: Post QA approval, dev is merged into master for production deployment. 7. Hotfix Workflow 7.1 Branching for Hotfixes: Naming: hf-JIRA-XXX-<branchname>. Based on: Created from master. Purpose: Immediate repairs to production issues. 7.2 Development and Testing: Focus on quick resolution; includes thorough testing and review. 7.3 Review and Approval: Requires pull request and approval from another developer. 7.4 Merging and Deployment: Hotfixes are merged into master and immediately deployed. 7.5 Propagate Hotfixes: Merge changes into dev and any active sprint-X branches to maintain consistency.