SUMMARY Here's a video that walks through when to create a branch and how to do it.
Hi. This is Jonathan Strauss, Customer Success Manager at Apptio. And today, we're going to talk about branching.
A branch is a point in time copy of a complete project or a trunk that can be worked on independently and then later deleted or merged back into the trunk, if you like to work.
Some popular use cases for branching include:
- Proving something out or demonstrating a different idea. For example, you might want to show three or four new application methodologies to stakeholders to solicit feedback. Once they decide on which method you want to go with, you can merge the correct choice back into the trunk and delete the other branches.
- Another popular use case would be for a long running config. So, you might have a two or three-month project that you need to work on, but meanwhile, business-as-usual needs configuration work too. So, you might do your business-as-usual config work in your trunk, write the main project, and then do your long running config, this major project for two or three months in the branch.
So, a couple of key considerations when thinking about creating a branch:
- Limit your branches to five at any point of time
- Make sure other members of the TBM Office are aware of the work you're doing in the branch, because, if you do decide to save the work and merge it into the trunk, you'll need to decide on the conflict resolution.
More on that, in just a minute..
But, first let's talk about how to create a branch. So first, I am going to navigate from my Cost Transparency project to TBM Studio, and make sure I'm In Development. And then, I'll click on my Project tab on the ribbon and I’ll click on Create Branch. So, at any point of time, I can navigate from the branch in the trunk by clicking on this drop-down menu next to my name.
So, conveniently here, there’s already a branch for Jon. So, I’ll access the branch for Jon. So, now that we’re in the branch network. So, a couple of things to keep in mind.
This is a point-in-time snapshot, essentially of the trunk. So, everything that was in the trunk before you create your branch is here, and any work you do on the branch at this point in time will not affect the trunk. Not yet. Well, you proceed with your branch work and proceed with your trunk work.
So, for example, you can see here that I have already checked out Currency Exchange. I am free to do work on Currency Exchange. Right, so I am done with my work, let’s say I have made a change. Now, it’s decision time. So, maybe the work I did I didn’t like, don’t want to keep it or done with it.
That’s fine. Just navigate to your Project tab on the ribbon, click Close Branch, that will effectively delete the branch. The branch will go away.
However, maybe we did like the changes. If that’s the case, we’ll go back to the Home tab on the ribbon, and then we’ll select Check In. Once we’ve checked in our project, we’ll then go in to our Check In History. We’ll right-click on that entry and we’ll select Merge Changes to Branch.
So, remember when we talked about conflict resolution, this is when this might pop up. So, suppose you make changes in a branch and someone else makes changes in the trunk, and let’s suppose those changes are actually odds with one another, upon checking in the branch, you’ll receive a message about the conflict. So, you can choose which to keep and which to lose, but your selection is final.
So, if you’ve reached this point and you’re not sure which way to go, consult with your colleagues and then try to merge again. So, your decision is more informed. This is why it is important to communicate with other TBMAs about your branch work before proceeding with it.