README.mdown

git-flow
========
A collection of Git extensions to provide high-level repository operations
for Vincent Driessen's [branching model](http://nvie.com/git-model "original
blog post").


Installing git-flow
-------------------
If you're on a Mac and use "homebrew":http://github.com/mxcl/homebrew, it's simple:

    $ brew install git-flow

If you're on a Mac and use "MacPorts":http://macports.org/, it's simple:

    $ port install git-flow

Another easy way to install git-flow is using Rick Osborne's excellent git-flow
installer, which can be run using the following command:

	$ wget -q -O - http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/raw/develop/contrib/gitflow-installer.sh | sudo sh

For __Windows__ users who wish to use the automated install, it is suggested that you install [Cygwin](http://www.cygwin.com/)
first to install tools like sh and wget. Then simply follow the command:

	C:\> wget -q -O - http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/raw/develop/contrib/gitflow-installer.sh | sh

If you prefer a manual installation, please use the following instructions.
After downloading the sources from Github, also fetch the submodules:

	$ git submodule init
	$ git submodule update

Then, you can install `git-flow`, using:

	$ sudo make install

By default, git-flow will be installed in /usr/local. To change the prefix
where git-flow will be installed, simply specify it explicitly, using:

	$ sudo make prefix=/opt/local install

Or simply point your `PATH` environment variable to your git-flow checkout
directory.

*Installation note:*  
git-flow depends on the availability of the command line utility `getopt`,
which may not be available in your Unix/Linux environment.  Please use your
favorite package manager to install `getopt`.  For Cygwin, install the
`util-linux` package to get `getopt`.  If you use `apt-get` as your install
manager, the package name is `opt`.


Integration with your shell
---------------------------
For those who use the [Bash](http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/) or
[ZSH](http://www.zsh.org) shell, please check out the excellent work on the
[git-flow-completion](http://github.com/bobthecow/git-flow-completion) project
by [bobthecow](http://github.com/bobthecow). It offers tab-completion for all
git-flow subcommands and branch names.

For Windows users, [msysgit](http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/) is a good
starting place for installing git.


FAQ
---
* **Can I still do manual branches and merges when I use git-flow?**  
  Of course you can. `git-flow` does not forbid you to keep using vanilla Git
  commands!

  So if you want to merge `master` into `develop` for whatever reason you want
  to, you can safely do so without breaking `git-flow` compatibility.  Do you
  want to manually merge a feature branch X into another feature branch Y?  Not
  a problem.  As long as you do it conciously and realize what this means for
  finishing those branches later on.

* **Why does git-describe not work for me?**  
  When finishing release and hotfix branches, that branch's HEAD is first
  merged into `master` and then into `develop`.  It is not the resulting new
  merge commit from `master` that is merged back into `develop`.  This means
  that a linear path from the new `develop` branch to the new `master` commit
  is not created.  Even worse, a linear path is created from the new `develop`
  branch to the *previous* `master` commit.  Although unintended, this is
  simply an effect of using the current branching rules.

  When using `git-describe` in these cases, you can get very confusing and
  misleading results, since `git-describe` scans the current commits linear
  history for the most recent tag it finds, which will always be the *previous*
  tag.

  I will change this behaviour in the next version of the branching model
  explicitly and I will include this behavioural change in the first version of
  the Python rewrite.

  For more references to this problem, see:

  - Issue [#49](http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/issues/49)
  - These
  	[two](http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users/browse\_thread/thread/9920a7df3d1c4908/0bb18a0bf7275ad6#0bb18a0bf7275ad6)
  	[discussions](http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users/browse\_thread/thread/19efac724bb6418a)
	on the [git-flow-users](http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users)
	mailinglist.

* **Can I use it with Windows?**  
  There have been reports of Windows users using `git-flow`.
  <del>Un</del>fortunately, I have no Windows environment to test it on, but
  this [issue](http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/issues/issue/25) should be
  helpful in setting it up.


Please help out
---------------
This project is still under development. Feedback and suggestions are very
welcome and I encourage you to use the [Issues
list](http://github.com/nvie/gitflow/issues) on Github to provide that
feedback.

Feel free to fork this repo and to commit your additions. For a list of all
contributors, please see the [AUTHORS](AUTHORS) file.

Any questions, tips, or general discussion can be posted to our Google group:
[http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users](http://groups.google.com/group/gitflow-users)


License terms
-------------
git-flow is published under the liberal terms of the BSD License, see the
[LICENSE](LICENSE) file. Although the BSD License does not require you to share
any modifications you make to the source code, you are very much encouraged and
invited to contribute back your modifications to the community, preferably
in a Github fork, of course.


Typical usage:
--------------
For the best introduction to get started to `git flow`, please read Jeff
Kreeftmeijer's blog post:

[http://jeffkreeftmeijer.com/2010/why-arent-you-using-git-flow/](http://jeffkreeftmeijer.com/2010/why-arent-you-using-git-flow/)


### Initialization

To initialize a new repo with the basic branch structure, use:
  
		git flow init
  
This will then interactively prompt you with some questions on which branches
you would like to use as development and production branches, and how you
would like your prefixes be named. You may simply press Return on any of
those questions to accept the (sane) default suggestions.


### Creating feature/release/hotfix/support branches

* To list/start/finish feature branches, use:
  
  		git flow feature
  		git flow feature start <name> [<base>]
  		git flow feature finish <name>
  
  For feature branches, the `<base>` arg must be a commit on `develop`.

* To list/start/finish release branches, use:
  
  		git flow release
  		git flow release start <release> [<base>]
  		git flow release finish <release>
  
  For release branches, the `<base>` arg must be a commit on `develop`.
  
* To list/start/finish hotfix branches, use:
  
  		git flow hotfix
  		git flow hotfix start <release> [<base>]
  		git flow hotfix finish <release>
  
  For hotfix branches, the `<base>` arg must be a commit on `master`.

* To list/start support branches, use:
  
  		git flow support
  		git flow support start <release> <base>
  
  For support branches, the `<base>` arg must be a commit on `master`.


Showing your appreciation
=========================
A few people already requested it, so now it's here: a Flattr button.

Of course, the best way to show your appreciation for the original
[blog post](http://nvie.com/git-model) or the git-flow tool itself remains
contributing to the community.  If you'd like to show your appreciation in
another way, however, consider Flattr'ing me:

[![Flattr this][2]][1]

[1]: http://flattr.com/thing/53771/git-flow
[2]: http://api.flattr.com/button/button-static-50x60.png