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Git Branching and Merging

47 posts · Jan 2006 – Aug 2020

What this trail covers

This thread tracks the evolution of Git branching and merging capabilities within Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server. It includes updates to the Git client, server-side logic, and tooling to improve consistency, automation, and developer experience. The VSTS team has adopted a 'Release Flow' strategy, which combines trunk-based development with sprint-based releases. This involves a single master branch for daily development, with release branches created at the end of each sprint. Hotfixes are handled separately. This post details how to customize Git settings within Visual Studio, including user identification, default repository location, author images, .gitignore and .gitattributes files, and command-line modifications.

All Microsoft trails
  1. Azure Repos default branch nameThis post introduces the ability for project owners to select the initial branch name for new Azure DevOps repositories, moving away from a fixed default. It also provides guidance on migrating existing repositories and announces the upcoming organizational-level setting and the default branch name change to 'main'.
  2. Release Flow: How We Do Branching on the VSTS TeamThis post details the VSTS team's 'Release Flow' branching strategy, which combines trunk-based development with sprint-based releases. It explains the rationale behind choosing trunk-based development to avoid complex merge hell and why continuous deployment (like GitHub Flow) doesn't scale for large teams. The strategy involves a single master branch for daily development, with release branches created at the end of each sprint. Hotfixes are applied to master first and then cherry-picked into the current release branch, ensuring that production fixes are also incorporated into future development.
  3. How VSTS is Accelerating the Engineering Group Behind WindowsThis post details the engineering effort by the Windows and Devices Group (WDG) to scale Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) for their large organization. Key contributions include building a pull request system capable of handling millions of commits and hundreds of thousands of pull requests, implementing background PR queues to prevent race conditions, and developing an extension for direct merge conflict resolution within VSTS. It also highlights the rationalization of over 10 million work items, reducing work item types, fields, and states to improve VSTS performance and reporting. The post emphasizes the cultural and process changes required for this scale, including standardizing terminology and states.
  4. How to Contribute to Git (on Windows)This post provides a guide for setting up a development environment on Windows to contribute to the Git codebase. It details how to build the Git source, run tests, test changes on Linux, and polish commits for upstream submission. The guide is published as `CONTRIBUTING.md` in the Git for Windows repository.
  5. New Git Features in Visual Studio 2017 Update 6This post introduces new Git features in Visual Studio 2017 Update 6. It enables users to push, delete, and view all Git tags within their repository, supporting both annotated and lightweight tags. Additionally, for Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) users, it allows checking out pull request branches directly within Visual Studio, simplifying the process of reviewing, testing, and building changes without leaving the IDE. The post also recommends configuring Git fetches to prune remote branches during fetch to maintain an up-to-date local branches list.
  7. VSTS/TFS Roadmap update for 2018 Q1 and Q2This post announces upcoming features for Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) and on-premises Team Foundation Server (TFS) for Q1 and Q2 2018. Key updates include: adding required reviewers as a contributor to pull requests, filtering pull requests by target branch and labels, public preview of GVFS for Mac, new Agile Hubs with consistent filter and favoriting experiences, general availability of YAML builds and public preview of YAML releases, support for VMs, Go, and Ruby in Azure DevOps Projects, Maven upstream support for Package Management, and multiple accounts per organization.
  8. New Git Features in Visual Studio 2017 Update 5Visual Studio 2017 Update 5 adds direct support for Git submodules and worktrees, allowing them to be added to the Local Repositories list in Team Explorer. It also introduces configurable defaults for `fetch.prune` (to remove local tracking branches for deleted remote branches) and `pull.rebase` (to maintain a linear commit history) within Team Explorer's Global and Repository Settings.
  9. Supporting Inner Source with ForksIntroduces the ability to fork Git repositories hosted in Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS). This enables a fork-based pull request workflow, which is popular for open-source projects and also supports Inner Source practices within companies. Developers can create a duplicate copy of a repository, experiment safely in their fork, and then open a pull request back to the original repository without needing write access. The post details the UI for creating forks and opening pull requests across forks.
  10. Git forks now in public previewIntroduces Git forks as a public preview feature in VSTS and TFS 2018 RC1. Forks are complete, efficiently stored copies of repositories used for isolating changes. They support pull requests for merging back to the original repository and can be managed at the per-repository or account level. Initial limitations include forking only within a single VSTS account, and the requirement of 'Create repository' permission for fork creation.
  11. View tags for git repositoriesThis post introduces the management of Git tags within Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS). It details how to create annotated and lightweight tags, view tag details, delete tags, and filter them. It also covers granular permissions for tag creation and deletion at the repository level. The post highlights the distinction between annotated and lightweight tags and their display in the VSTS UI.
  12. Update on Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2017This post details the quality issues encountered with Team Explorer in Visual Studio 2017 RTM, stemming from changes in the authentication library and the Git experience migration. It outlines upcoming fixes for Visual Studio Team Explorer and Team Services, categorized by Visual Studio update version (Update 1, 2, and 3) and service-side fixes. The post also describes process changes to prevent future quality issues, including expanding the test matrix, earlier community engagement, and delivering architectural changes into preview builds earlier.
  13. Git repo tokens for the security serviceThis post explains the internal algorithm used by VSTS to generate security tokens for Git resources, particularly branches. It details how case-sensitive Git ref names (e.g., 'master') are encoded into a case-insensitive string format (e.g., 'refs/heads/6d0061007300740065007200') to be used with the VSTS security REST endpoint and TFSSecurity.exe. The explanation covers the token structure (repoV2, project ID, repo ID, resource path) and the UTF-16 little-endian encoding of characters for case-insensitive transport. Code snippets in C# and Python are provided to illustrate the encoding algorithm.
  14. New Git Features in Visual Studio 2017Introduced new Git features in Visual Studio 2017: `push --force-with-lease` for safer force pushes during rebasing or amending commits, the ability to view diffs for outgoing commits and between any two commits, functionality to unset upstream branches, and SSH support for Git remotes. These features leverage `git.exe` for up-to-date functionality and respect for Git configuration options.
  15. Splitting up Git administer permissionsIntroduced 6 new granular permissions for Git repository administration: Create repository, Delete repository, Rename repository, Edit policies, Manage permissions, and Remove others' locks. This splits the previous monolithic 'Administer' permission to allow for more flexible delegation of authority. Existing 'Administer' permissions are automatically migrated. New repositories are granted the full set of new administrative permissions by default. Renamed several existing permissions for clarity, including 'Force push (rewrite history and delete branches)'.
  16. Becoming more productive with Git: Tower and Team ServicesIntroduces dedicated integrations for the Tower Git desktop client with Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) and Team Foundation Server (TFS). This integration simplifies cloning and creating repositories by providing direct access to service accounts and eliminating manual URL hunting and authentication wrestling. It also enhances merge conflict resolution with Tower's visual 'Conflict Wizard', makes undoing mistakes easier, supports creating semantic commits by allowing granular selection of changed lines, and includes automatic fetching of latest developments.
  17. Versioning NuGet packages in a continuous delivery world: part 3This post details a specific workflow for versioning NuGet packages in a continuous delivery environment. It outlines the use of GitFlow branching model, GitVersion for semantic versioning, and Azure DevOps (VSTS) Package Management and Team Build for automation. Key steps include installing GitVersionTask, configuring AssemblyInfo.cs, setting up GitVersionConfig.yaml, pushing code to VSTS, installing the GitVersion extension for VSTS, and configuring a build definition with GitVersion Task, a PowerShell script for CI versioning, NuGet Packager, and NuGet Publisher. It demonstrates how to produce pre-release packages based on branch names and discusses strategies for releasing final packages.
  18. Git Experience Futures (April 2016)This post announces upcoming improvements to the Git experience in Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) and Visual Studio "15". Key updates include improvements to the pull request comment experience (comments stay on the correct line after code changes), SSH support for Git repos (currently in private preview), and a new branches experience with features like 'My branches' pivot, hierarchical branch view, pull request status, and common actions (delete, rename, set policies, lock, view history, create branch). Visual Studio "15" will improve Git integration by respecting source control provider settings and simplifying repo cloning. The web experience will also be made faster and easier to use.
  19. What's new in Git for Windows 2.8?This post introduces the Git Credential Manager for Windows, enhancing authentication support for multi-factor authentication and security tokens. It also details improvements to line ending handling, making Git commands faster by default with FSCache enabled, and making `git.exe` available from all command-lines by default. Other improvements include better diagnostics for line endings and faster Git commands with `core.untrackedCache=true`.
  20. Linking Work Items to Git Branches, Commits, and Pull RequestsThis post introduces new features in Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) to improve the traceability between Git development work and work items. It adds a 'Development' section to the work item form that displays linked commits, branches, and pull requests. It also provides action links to create new branches and pull requests directly from a work item, automatically linking them. When a pull request is merged, associated work items are automatically linked to the merge commit. The post also reiterates existing methods for linking, such as #ID mentions in commit messages and linking from the Visual Studio Changes page.
  21. Get your code hosted for free in VSTSThis post introduces the capability to host code for free in Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) using Git. It provides detailed, step-by-step instructions for: 1. Creating a free VSTS account. 2. Adding an existing Visual Studio project to a new Git repo in VSTS. 3. Adding existing code (not in Visual Studio) to a Git repo in VSTS using the command line. 4. Cloning an empty VSTS Git repo and creating a new project within it. It also outlines the benefits of using VSTS for code hosting, such as unlimited free private repositories, integrated pull requests with builds and work items, powerful history views, a web editor, enterprise-level security, and Visual Studio integration. Finally, it points to next steps for setting up CI builds and planning work.
  22. Branch and pull requests improvements for Visual StudioThis post introduces enhancements to the Git experience in Visual Studio 2015 Update 1. Key improvements include: 1. A new status bar in VS that displays the current repository and branch, and provides quick access to create branches, view branch history, and manage branches. 2. Faster search across local and remote branches, including path segments. 3. A pull requests page in Team Explorer that mirrors the web experience, showing current PRs and those assigned to the team, with links to create new PRs. 4. Simplified viewing and connection to projects that contain both Git and TFVC repositories.
  23. Java Experience Futures (January 2016)This post announces planned improvements for the VSTS plugin for IntelliJ, focusing on essential developer workflows such as viewing and assigning work items, associating work items with branches, committing changes, tracking build status and code review feedback, and completing pull requests. It also mentions the release of a protocol helper for opening Java projects in IntelliJ from VSTS. For the VSTS plugin for Eclipse (Team Explorer Everywhere), the focus is on simplifying the 'getting started' experience, reducing authentication friction, and streamlining work with Git repositories. The post also highlights broader VSTS improvements relevant to Java and cross-platform development, including SSH support for Git repos, enhanced Java testing capabilities (unit testing, code coverage), porting build tasks to JavaScript, and improvements to the Git Credential Manager for Mac and Linux.
  24. Git Experience Futures (January 2016)This post announces several upcoming features for the Git experience in Visual Studio and Team Services, including SSH support for Git repos, GitFlow workitem linking and new branches experience, an updated pull request experience, new Git commands (reset, cherry-pick, staging) in Visual Studio, and an improved getting started experience for setting up Git repos. These features aim to enhance the usability and depth of Git integration for both new and experienced users.
  25. Visual Studio Team Services announces the newest release of our Eclipse Plugin: Team Explorer Everywhere (TEE) 14.0.2This post announces version 14.0.2 of the Team Explorer Everywhere (TEE) plugin for Eclipse. Key new features include support for Eclipse Mars and the ability for Team Foundation Projects to contain a mix of both Git and TFVC repositories. Notable improvements include enhanced server connection caching, more reliable TFVC Git operations, improved local workspace scanning, better startup performance, increased security for Federated Authentication cookies, streamlined TFVC check-ins, support for server URLs with encoded characters, and improvements to the TFVC Source Control Explorer.
  26. Announcing the Git Credential Manager for Windows 1.0Announced version 1.0 of the Git Credential Manager for Windows (GCM), replacing the WinStore credential manager. Key features include secure password storage in the Windows Credential Store, multi-factor authentication for VSTS, two-factor authentication for GitHub, Personal Access Token support for VSTS and GitHub, non-interactive mode for VSTS with Azure Directory, and build agent optimization settings. The GCM seamlessly reuses stored credentials and can leverage existing Visual Studio authentication for VSTS.
  27. TFVC and Git repositories in the same team projectThis post introduces the capability to add Git repositories to existing TFVC team projects and TFVC repositories to existing Git team projects within Azure DevOps (TFS Update 1 or Team Services). It details the steps to create a new Git repository within a TFVC project and highlights the visual distinction between Git and TFVC repositories. It also mentions the need to modify version control permissions and notes that Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 has support for team projects with both repo types.
  28. Visual Studio Team Foundation Plugin for IntelliJ and Android StudioThis post announces a preview of the Visual Studio Team Foundation Plugin for IntelliJ and Android Studio. The plugin simplifies interaction with TFS and VSO Git repositories from within the IDE, reducing context switching. Key features include simplified multi-factor authentication, easy cloning and sharing of code by browsing team projects and repositories, and streamlined creation of pull requests from the IDE for code reviews and policy-based merging. The code is open-sourced on GitHub.
  29. Announcing Git-LFS on all VSO Git reposAnnounces the integration of Git Large File Storage (LFS) into all Visual Studio Online (VSO) Git repositories, providing unlimited free storage. Explains how Git-LFS works by replacing large files with placeholders and storing content separately. Provides instructions for users to install the Git-LFS client and use it with VSO. Mentions upcoming support for Git-LFS in Team Foundation Server 2015 Update 1 and ongoing work to add NTLM authentication support.
  30. Git Experience FuturesThis post announces improvements to Visual Studio, Visual Studio Online, and Team Foundation Server related to Git. Key enhancements include: improved pull request experience within Visual Studio (creation, viewing, review, merging with merge commit), scalability improvements for large Git repositories (large files via Git LFS, limited refs, redeltification), GitFlow integration (branch creation from work items), SSH key support for Git repositories, and the ability to create Git repositories within TFVC Team Projects. It also mentions optimizations for cloning and empty repository experiences across various development tools.
  31. Visual Studio Online Supports True Cross-Platform DevelopmentThis post introduces Visual Studio Online (VSO) as a platform supporting cross-platform development, highlighting its capabilities for non-traditional Microsoft developers. It details the integration of Git repositories, including unlimited private Git repositories hosted in the cloud, and the ability to connect existing Git repositories and tools. The post also covers cloud-hosted code reviews with inline comments and individual sign-offs, traceability between source code and work items using agile planning and bug tracking tools, and continuous integration (CI) builds triggered by commits and code reviews. It mentions the open-source VSO build agent written in Node.js that runs on various operating systems and supports building languages like Xcode, C++, and Java. Furthermore, it discusses seamless integration with existing tools using service hooks and REST APIs, and the Team Explorer Everywhere (TEE) plug-in for Eclipse. Specific features mentioned include Xcode and other Git tools connecting to VSO Git repositories, editing source files and committing directly from the browser, and automatic building, testing, and deployment of backend web services.
  32. CodeLens and Team Project RenameThis post clarifies that CodeLens functionality "just works" after a team project rename, utilizing existing CodeLens files without additional processing. It identifies a specific edge case where a team project name is reused, requiring a manual re-indexing of CodeLens data using `TFSConfig CodeIndex /reindexAll` for TFS or an email request for Visual Studio Online. This post builds upon the existing Git branching and merging capabilities by detailing how CodeLens handles project renames within that context.
  33. Team Explorer Everywhere 2013 Update 2 is now availableTeam Explorer Everywhere 2013 Update 2 adds Git repository browsing in Team Explorer, allowing users to discover and clone Git repositories from Team Foundation Server or Visual Studio Online. It also introduces support for overriding the user configuration location via the TEE_PROFILE_DIRECTORY environment variable and enables storing credentials for the cross-platform command line client on Windows.
  34. Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server Update 4 CTP 1 now availableThis post announces the availability of Visual Studio 2013 Update 4 CTP 1, which includes several features previously available in Visual Studio Online for Team Foundation Server. Key additions for TFS include trend charts and aggregate data from work item queries with new chart types (Stacked Area, Area, and Line), the ability to move work items to a specific position on the backlog, full-screen mode for backlog and boards pages, and search functionality for Area paths and iterations in Web Access. For Git repositories, Pull Requests are now available for code review and merging. Additionally, C++ performance improvements are noted, including faster solution scanning and database updates, and the ability to determine GPU performance bottlenecks in C++ Windows applications using the Performance and Diagnostics hub.
  35. Visual Studio 2013 Team Foundation Server version control and buildAnnounces the release of Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server 2013, highlighting new capabilities in version control and build. For version control, it emphasizes the choice between TFVC (centralized) and Git (distributed) and expanded web portal collaboration. For TFBuild, it notes the ability to compile code from TFVC or Git projects, run PowerShell scripts in the build process, and a simpler default build process. It also details a known bug in the Queue Build dialog box where build parameters are not rendered properly, affecting VS 2013 RTM against TFS 2013 RTM, and provides a link to the fix.
  36. Visual Studio 2013 Preview: Git version control and Team Foundation BuildThis post announces the integration of Git into Visual Studio 2013 and Team Foundation Server 2013. It highlights the built-in support for Git projects, including branching, merging, and conflict resolution. New features for Team Foundation Build are also detailed, such as building Windows 8.1 Preview Store apps, building Git projects, running scripts, and customizing build processes. Known issues and workarounds for Git operations in Visual Studio are also provided.
  37. Release Candidate of Visual Studio 2012 Update 3 now availableIntroduced the ability to enable continuous integration for Team Projects using Git and to select a specific branch in the repository to be built. Also added functionality to the Team Foundation Server 2012 upgrade wizard to preserve build settings from the previous install when loading the configuration database.
  38. Use the Git command prompt to supplement Visual StudioThis post details how to use the Git command prompt to supplement Visual Studio for less common Git tasks. It covers enabling basic authentication for TFS accounts, installing command-prompt tools, opening the Git command prompt window, and provides a table mapping common Git tasks (create local repo, clone, fetch/pull, get info, commit, amend commit, revert, reset, branch/merge, rebase, push) to their corresponding command-prompt commands and Visual Studio equivalents. It also highlights the use of Windows Credential Store for Git to avoid repeated credential entry.
  39. core.ignorecase corruption issue fixed in Visual Studio Tools for Git 0.8.0.0This post details two critical bugs in the Visual Studio Tools for Git preview release (version 0.7.x.x) related to the 'core.ignorecase' setting in libgit2. The bugs caused spurious changes (pending deletes) in the Changes page and corrupted tree objects during commits when repositories contained directories with case-equivalent names (e.g., 'Images' and 'images'). These issues were fixed in version 0.8.0.0, which is now available. The post explains the underlying cause related to case-insensitive file systems and provides guidance on recovery for affected repositories.
  40. Use Git 0.8.0.0 to run scheduled builds and resolve conflictsThis post announces Visual Studio Tools for Git 0.8.0.0, which includes bug fixes and an enhanced conflict resolution experience. Users can now resolve merge conflicts through a dedicated 'Resolve Conflicts' page, comparing files and committing resolved changes. Additionally, the release enables scheduled automated builds for Git codebases by configuring build processes with a 'Schedule' trigger, allowing for nightly builds and the option to build even if nothing has changed to schedule builds of remote repositories.
  41. Customize Git settings in Visual StudioThis post introduces the ability to customize Git settings within Visual Studio. It covers specifying user identification (name and email), default repository location, enabling author images from TFS profiles or Gravatar, using .gitignore to block clutter, and modifying .gitattributes for line-ending handling. It also details how to modify these settings from the command prompt using `git-config`.
  42. Create, Connect, and Publish using Visual Studio with GitThis post demonstrates how to create, connect to, and publish local Git repositories using Visual Studio and Team Foundation Service. It covers creating new local repositories (empty, with new solutions, or with existing solutions), adding existing local repositories, cloning remote repositories (from TFS and third-party services), and publishing local repositories to TFS or third-party services. It also introduces the 'Connect' page in Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 for managing connections.
  43. Getting Started with Git in Visual Studio and Team Foundation ServiceThis post announces the availability of Git for Visual Studio and Team Foundation Service, detailing the setup process for Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 CTP and Visual Studio Tools for Git. It explains the choice between TFVC and Git for new team projects, highlighting the strengths of each. The post walks through creating a Git team project, connecting to it from Visual Studio, cloning repositories (both from TFS and other Git hosters), and starting new projects under local version control. It also covers customizing Git settings, committing changes locally with work item association, pulling and pushing changes, creating and using branches, resolving conflicts using Visual Studio's built-in tools and command-line options, viewing history, and exploring the web access interface for repositories, including the Explorer view, History view, and file comparison.
  44. Quick Response Sample – Visual Studio Extension to support the ALM Rangers Branching and Merging guidanceThis post introduces a Visual Studio Extension that provides a UI for applying predefined branching models to Team Foundation Server (TFS) repositories. The extension builds upon a command-line utility engine that uses a defined schema for branch plans and MEF-extended actions (Connect to source Control, Create Folder, Create Branch, Check-In to source control) to automate the creation of source control structures. The extension allows users to select configured branch plans and set arguments before applying them, simplifying the implementation of branching strategies.
  45. Quick Response Sample – Command line utility to create TFS Branch ScenariosIntroduced a command-line utility (TfsBranchTool.exe) that leverages the TFS Object Model to automate the creation of consistent branching models as part of team project or team creation processes. The tool supports different branching strategies (e.g., 'Main only', 'Basic', 'Feature') and allows for customization of project collection URL, team project name, root folder, and feature names. The underlying implementation uses an abstract action engine configurable via XML for flexibility and extensibility.
  46. Team Foundation Server and Xcode projects with git-tfIntroduced `git-tf`, a tool that allows users to create a local git repository from a path in Team Foundation Server and check changes back into TFS. This enables users of IDEs without built-in TFS integration, such as Xcode, to utilize TFS Version Control. The post demonstrates cloning a TFS project into a local git repository, making changes in Xcode, committing to the local git repository, and then checking those changes back into TFS. It also shows how this process integrates with Continuous Integration builds.
  47. New Branching Guidance For Team Foundation ServerIntroduces new branching guidance for Team Foundation Server, covering an introduction, parallel development, branching definitions, creating isolation, general structure, branching strategies, broad areas of isolation, creating a strategy, defining a code promotion model, feature crews (Microsoft's approach), and an end-to-end implementation scenario. The guidance is available online at http://www.codeplex.com/BranchingGuidance.
  48. Cool walkthrough Info on merging and branchingThis post references an external blog post from Vertigo Software that provides a walkthrough with scenarios for branching and merging, in response to a user's question about practical development processes.