Recently I started working on a big features, so I created a new feature/xyz
branch. Problem is that this feature is big, so it will take me ~3 months to complete it. I would like to safely merge progress that has been made in develop
to my feature branch, without worrying that changes from develop
branch will override updates that I already made in my feature branch. My previous attempt to merge develop
to feature/xyz
ended up in some changes that I already made in the new feature being reverted.
What would be the command to achieve this? Thanks
Only you understand how the code on develop
and feature/xyz
aligns, no one else. It is only you who can merge the two flows correctly in a discerning way. Even with the default merging strategies, which are far less dangerous than -S ours
or -X theirs
you still always have to review the result.
You may need some help of course, and git will offer some. For example, you can use git recorded resolutions - rerere to help with making the same correct merge decision after you made one initially.
A fairly common, and relatively simple model, using the names you’ve supplied for the branches, could work for you like this,
develop
is the branch where the main thrust of development occursxyz
is the branch where you develop the feature xyzxyz_stage
is the branch where you merge the develop
and the xyz
code, keeping that branch stable in line with the respective stable points of develop
and xyz
. This is also the branch that you’d eventually merge back into develop when you are ready to release feature xyz or part of thereof.The above assumes that not only you merge xyz
into xyz_stage
but that you also merge develop
into xyz_stage
from time to time and make sure that the portions of xyz
so far released to xyz_stage
work and pass the relevant tests in conjunction with the code from develop
.
Nevertheless, you still have to choose how do you make the xyz
branch, where you work on the feature, aware of the progress on develop.
The cleanest option is - don’t make it aware. That’s why you have xyz_stage
where the two development flows come together. This approach is feasible and sane as long as the development of xyz
is not prolonged.
The second option is to merge xyz_stage
back into xyz
when you are happy with the staging branch. That way you will have stable point that you can continue and develop the xyz
feature on top.
Here's a simple illustration of the process, with comments: