GitFlow

GitFlow is a branching strategy.  It advises when to branch, and which branch changes should be committed to depending on the nature of the change and the phase of the release cycle.

It can handle critical bug fixes (patch) and scheduled releases (new feature, bug fix, stabilization).

Here is the doc - Introducing GitFlow

Best Practice: JIRA, source code, and build integrations

1. When a developer is closing a JIRA ticket, the checkin to the Git should be mentioned.

QA would typically like to know which build the fix is in.  However, it is hard to get the build number yet when the build has not yet done.  So the checkin number should be mentioned in the JIRA, and later we can use the checkin to locate the build.

Some systems can update the JIRA ticket automatically from the source control system or even from the build tool.  It will be ideal.

Release Management

Release Planning

A list of features should be scheduled as part of the planning process.  In scrum method, each sprint is a release.  The release planning is handled as the sprint planning.
The features or fixes are prioritized.  They are documented as backlogs in the scrum system.

Release Notification

A list of customers may be waiting for a fix or a feature for a given release.  You will need to notify the customers that a release is available.

Documentation

The release note should mention what fixes and features are available.
The release note should be searchable.  A customer should be able to know what is the minimum required version for getting a specific fix or a feature.

Release Tracking on the Customer Site

For a given instance, you should be able to know the update history.  What is the version of the installation and what patches were applied.

It is particularly useful for the hosted environment.  The hosted customers should be able to submit the change requests.  Once the change is applied, the change history should be kept.  The change requests become the orders for DevOps.

When your software is solid, few customers may need or want to take an update.  The frequency can vary depending on the status of the product.

See what happens inside Git

Here is an excellent article:

Git and Github work together

1. Create a GitHub repository
2. Clone the repository to a local directory
3. Work on your local repo, such as modifying or adding files
4. Use 'git add' to add intended files to the local repo
5. Use 'git commit -m to commit the changes
6. Push local data to the remote location (GitHub)

By cloning the repository, a local repo will be initiated.
If you make changes directly via GitHub, there could be mismatch between the local and the remote repo.  You can use the pull command to merge the changes.

A good introduction to Git

Github and Git

Github.com is a website that hosts many software development projects.  It is kind of like a collaboration workspace. It can host files, but it is mainly for maintaining the software codes.

Git is a software that provides the version control service.  You can keep the old versions and track the changes.  It provides a multi-user development (MUD) environment.  You will know who makes the changes and when the changes are made.

Here is a great video:

Git Repository

If you are using Github, creating a Git repository means that creating a space in the Github site for storing the files.

If you are using Git locally, creating a Git repository means enabling the features of Git, such as version control.

Things to do after installing Git

Typically the tutorial starts with teaching these commands:

git init 
git add
git status
git commit
git log

Like this TryGit tutorial from Code School.  Unless you are doing development work, these may not be useful for you.

A powerful and useful command is to copy the entire directory and files from a repository from Github.

Getting started with Git

Why do I need to learn Git?

Github is used for

• sharing files
• wiki
• issue tracking
• backup

It is used in many open source development.
It is used by the course I am taking from Coursera.com.

Git is the version control software to interact with Github.

Where did Git come from?

It was designed for managing Linux development. It is a distributed development environment.

Where to download Git?

Official site: git-scm.com
We can download GIT from here.

What does the Git Bash software do?

Created my first Github repository

Just followed the instruction here:
https://guides.github.com/activities/hello-world/

Learning Github and Git is a very good way to learn these basic idea about software development :

1. Version Control