Branching example

The following example illustrates how branching can be used in a typical software development environment.

Development starts on WysiCalc, a new product developed by the WysiCorp company. The WysiCorp Products (mainline) branch contains the repositories, source code, and associated files for all the company’s products. All feature development takes place in this branch.

After development is complete for the first WysiCalc release, a baseline branch named WysiCalc 1.0.x is created from the WysiCalc repository. This branch represents the ‘feature freeze’ milestone in the development process.

Developers fix issues in the WysiCalc 1.0.x branch. Developers can also create private workspace branches where they fix issues and then promote the changes to the WysiCalc 1.0.x branch. Feature development for the next major WysiCalc release continues in the WysiCorp Products (mainline) branch.

When WysiCalc is ready for release, a baseline branch named WysiCalc 1.0.0 is created from the WysiCalc 1.0.x branch. This branch represents the ‘code freeze’ milestone in the development process. Critical issue fixes for the release are made in the WysiCalc 1.0.0 branch and promoted to both the WysiCalc 1.0.x and WysiCorp Products branches.

After the product is released, the WysiCalc 1.0.0 branch is made read-only and a snapshot branch named WysiCalc 1.0.0 Final Release is created to ensure the released code is captured.

This process of branching and promoting changes continues for all major and minor releases.