Gitflow on GitHub: How to use Git Flow workflows with GitHub Based Repos

Are you using GitHub? Is Gitflow your workflow of choice? Here's a quick tutorial to show you how to use Git Flow with GitHub hosted repos. It's not hard. Just create your repo on GitHub and clone it locally. Then run the Git Flow init command on the cloned GitHub repo. Then push back to GitHub and you've accomplished Gitflow and GitHub integration. This GitHub and GitFlow example goes a bit deeper though. We show you how to create feature and release branches and push that back to master, all while pushing and pulling back and forth to GitHub. If you want to see how GitFlow and GitHub work together, this example tutorial is for you!

[@demicoderr]

This is the best video on GitHub that I've seen so far.

[@cameronmcnz]

Thanks! I try and keep things as simple and to the point as I can! GitFlow is a complex topic though.

[@yes_milord]

This is really helpful and easy to understand, thank you!

[@cameronmcnz]

Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm trying to be as clear and succinct in my videos without needless commentary. So glad you found it helpful. GitFlow can be intimidating at first.

[@samithawijesekara]

This video is really helpful. You explain and demostrate the everything very clearly. Thanks you❤🎉

[@chhayajain6998]

That was the most unique tutorial for this concept. Thanks for making this video. 😃

[@cameronmcnz]

Thanks so much for the kind words! I try to keep my videos short and to the point, but GitHub and GitFlow is a fairly deep topic. I'm glad you enjoyed!

[@yinmyoesint9852]

Clear and precise! Thanks a lot.

[@raagediriye9229]

So helpful :D. Thank you

[@goldfish8196]

Thank you for these version control tutorials

[@cameronmcnz]

Thanks for your kind words! I'm trying to keep them as short, simple and to-the-point as possible. And most have an accompanied write-up on TheServerSide where I'm the Editor:
www.theserverside.com/blog/Coffee-Talk-Java-News-Stories-and-Opinions/Gitflow-release-branch-process-start-finish

[@goldfish8196]

I watched the one on submodules ten times! You are a great teacher.

[@cameronmcnz]

@@goldfish8196 If I was a great teacher, you wouldn't have had to watch it ten times!

[@goldfish8196]

I'm a slow learner! @@cameronmcnz

[@joelfankam3719]

thx sir, simple c, concise and riht to the goal

[@cameronmcnz]

Glad I could help!

[@hjorkera]

Very interesting workflow.
How would this work with pull requests?
I wonder if you have a video about this already.

[@cameronmcnz]

Yes, you could integrate the pull request into the release stage quite easily. It's worth noting that GitHub has their own flow, GitHub Flow, that concentrates more on pull requests than the many branches is GitFlow. GitLab has their own as well.

[@ajajalam6690]

thank you for the video

[@cameronmcnz]

You're welcome

[@jayclark8526]

two things are fuzzy to me.
- what happens to your local development branch? that also needs to be pushed. It will have a different merge commit id for the release. Does that just get added on the next release?

[@user-js4ub3ef6n]

grate, thanks

[@joaquinleimeter2084]

What if i am working with a team and I want to
push branch => do pull request => (say im the only one) approve the branch => merge it into development?
I know this might be a long answer, is there a video on that?

[@francescofreddi4374]

great video... how i can know all commands for gitFlow for gitHub?

[@ch4sethe5un]

Where do the PRs come in?

[@issamnaouali1574]

Thanks this very helpful
Is it possible to teach us how test and deploy our java app mysql db with jinkins sonarqube and nexus 😁

[@cameronmcnz]

I think I have tutorials on here on all of those things!

[@ge7sur3nka34]

when we init git flow on local repo, will it match the git flow config on remote? or is there any settings to do before utilizing it?

[@cameronmcnz]

I had to google it. I found this answer on SO:
stackoverflow.com/questions/62687451/usage-of-git-flow-init-when-team-members-clone-the-remote-repository

[@ge7sur3nka34]

@@cameronmcnz thanks man, i am new to using git and git flow in team.

[@IgorPomaranskiy]

Do I get it right, that there is no way to use git flow with GitHub without a ton of extra actions if we want to do PRs and code reviews?

[@cameronmcnz]

Yeah, you'll still need to integrate the whole PR system in as well.
GitFlow gives you a great idea on how to control commits and branches on small teams. When integrating PRs to control merges, teams typically scale GitFlow down a bit.

[@abdelkaderkaouane1944]

Why do you not use "pull request"?

[@michaellee1939]

How come the development branch didn't get the release fix?

[@cameronmcnz]

Because I was lazy. Never actually thought anyone would watch right to the end. Good catch!

[@michaellee1939]

@@cameronmcnz wasn't trying to catch the mistake :) . Genuinely asking how to merge it back to the development branch. Care to elaborate more?

[@cameronmcnz]

@@michaellee1939 If you are doing the branching yourself, you'd go to the development branch and do a git merge release to bring the release branch in. If you use the actual gitflow command, it does it automatically, and it also deletes the release branch when it's done.

[@michaellee1939]

@@cameronmcnz not sure if i missed any previous steps, but i actually ran a git push origin on development, then the release fix shows up there now

[@cameronmcnz]

@@michaellee1939 I love it when Git magically fixes itself. lol. Sounds like the release fix got merged in for you. Nice.

[@alpachino468]

How do you install Gitflow?

[@cameronmcnz]

With the latest versions of Git, it is part of the distribution. You have to go back a few years to find a Git installation without GitFlow installed. Run a GitFlow command and see what happens!