I have a use case that I don't know how to address. I have a feeling
that the way I propose is not using git to its best advantage, and am
therefore asking for advice.
As an intermittent software developer I have been using git for a long
time to track software (GPL licenced) I have developed for a web site
that I operate supporting a fan club. [Ajax based Chat, a real time Air
Hockey Game with associated club Ladder, and an American Football
Results Picking Competition]
Each application uses a pattern like that shown below
Basically I have two branches that interact as follows
2' - 2a - 3' - 4' SITE
/ / /
1 - 2 ------ 3 - 4 MASTER
I develop and test Locally on the master branch, in the commit 2a I
update settings (such as database password etc that I need for the
site), and then progressively merge commits made on master when I am
happy that they work in the test environment. A git hook rsyncs the
site branch to site on each merge or commit on that branch.
The master branch is also pushed to my public git repository (which is
why passwords are changed on the site branch. The change made back in
2a is "remembered" by git, so provided I don't go editing the password
on the master branch things work fine.
My applications tend to be "skinned" (if that is the right word for the
html page that forms the backdrop for them) with the fan club web site
look and feel. However, I am now trying to make a demo site on my home
server for these applications, and as such I would like to remove the
fan club skinning and add my own look and feel. In fact there are other
changes necessary, because many of the applications use the associated
fan club membership information of the user to display - so generically,
I need to make quite a lot of modifications to make it all work and
would end up with 4 branches as shown, with the difference in commits
between 4 and 5 as that major work to update the application.
2' - 2a - 3' - 4' SITE
/ / /
1 - 2 ------ 3 - 4 TEST
\
5 ------ 6 MASTER
\ \
5' - 5a- 6' DEMO
As you can see, in the process I have renamed Master to Test - the
transition to 5a adds passwords to access the database on my demo site.
The problem comes when I want to now merge back further work that I did
on the master branch (the 5-6 transition) to the fan club site
2' - 2a - 3' - 4' ----------------- 6' SITE
/ / / /
1 - 2 ------ 3 - 4 ------------6'''- 6a TEST
\ /
5 ------ 6 MASTER
\ \
5''- 5a- 6'' DEMO
What will happen is the changes made in 4->5 will get applied to the
(now) Test branch as part of the 6->6'' merge, and I will be left having
to add a new commit, 6a, to undo them all again. Given this is likely
to be quite a substantial change I want to try and avoid it if possible.
Is there any way I could use git to remember the 4->5 transition,
reverse it and apply it back to the Test branch before hand.
--
Alan Chandler
http://www.chandlerfamily.org.uk
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