DevOps Branching Strategy helps to create an efficient DevOps process. Bobcares, as a part of our DevOps Consulting Service offers solutions to every query that comes our way.

Contents

1. An Introduction to DevOps Branching Strategy
   • What is meant by Branching Strategy?
   • Branching Strategy in DevOps
   • Benefits of the DevOps Branching Strategy
2. Different Kinds of Branching Strategy
   • GitFlow
   • GitHub Flow
   • GitLab Flow
   • Trunk-based Development
3. Setting up and reviewing CI/CD Branching Strategy
4. Conclusion

An Introduction to DevOps Branching Strategy

What is meant by Branching Strategy?

A branching strategy is a collection of guidelines and procedures that teams use in version control systems for branch creation, management, and merge operations. A branching strategy’s main objective is to enable teamwork in software development while making sure that modifications are performed in an orderly and regulated way. Also, this tactic facilitates concurrent work on various features or problem fixes, lowers conflict, and helps manage the complexity of development.

A software development team employs a branching strategy, to put it simply while engaging with a version control system to write as well as manage code. The branching strategy, as its name implies, is centred on the employment of branches in the process of development.

Branching Strategy in DevOps

Developing an effective DevOps process will require a well-executed branching strategy. The goal of DevOps is to simplify, expedite, and improve workflow without sacrificing the final product’s quality.

A branching strategy aids in defining the roles and responsibilities of the delivery team for each feature, enhancement, and bug patch. Additionally, it simplifies the delivery process by letting developers concentrate on improvements and deployments on the pertinent branches alone, without having an impact on the whole product.

Benefits of the DevOps Branching Strategy

The simple DevOps branching Strategy has the following advantages:

1. Different features or bug fixes may be created independently with a branching strategy, enabling developers to focus on certain tasks without affecting the main codebase. This segregation facilitates testing and change integration while reducing conflict.

2. By permitting the coexistence of several branches, a branching strategy facilitates parallel development. Teams can expedite the development process by working on several features or fixes at the same time.

3. By giving code updates a clear framework, a branching strategy makes release management easier. In order to ensure that only authorised modifications are incorporated in the codebase and to stabilise it for a release, release branches can be made.

4. A branching strategy enables the production of hotfix branches in case of urgent problems or security flaws that need to be fixed. With the help of these branches, the team may handle pressing issues without interfering with the usual development process.

5. DevOps branching strategy encourages the regular merging of code changes into a common branch, which is in line with CI/CD procedures. Ensuring that updates are consistently tested, integrated, and deployed, lowers the possibility of integration problems as well as speeds up the release cycle.

6. By giving team members an organised method to collaborate, a branching strategy improves teamwork. Changes that are restricted to particular branches make code reviews easier to handle and make it simpler to monitor and handle criticism.

7. Maintaining a steady and dependable master branch, or main branch, is achievable with a well-defined branching strategy. Thus, the branch usually contains the code that is ready for production, making sure the program is always in a deployable condition.

8. Branching strategies support versioning and tagging. This facilitate the association of certain releases with a set of modifications. This makes it easier in order to trace the history of the codebase and allows the team to go back in time to earlier iterations as necessary.

9. Workflows that are predictable allow operations and development teams to know when and where changes are anticipated to happen. Because of its predictability, planning and coordination are made easier and confusion is decreased.

Different Kinds of Branching Strategy

The following are the top four branching strategies:

GitFlow

One well-known branching strategy is GitFlow. It has two main branches that remain the same throughout the duration of the project: The Master branch and the Develop branch.

Supporting branches may also exist, such as release branches, hotfix and bug-fix branches, as well as branches for the development of new features. The process is streamlined by these several branches, each with its own goals. Additionally, parallel development operates flawlessly. Also, it functions flawlessly with several iterations of the production code.

GitFlow, however, has the potential to complicate the merging process. So, to get around it, developers must merge short-term feature branches often. It can also slow down the development process, therefore integrating it with CI/CD systems is not the easiest approach.

GitHub Flow

A far easier branching strategy is GitHub Flow. Similar to GitFlow, the code will be in a central master branch. However, each new modification creates a new branch with a meaningful name. Also, changes merge back into the main branch after accepting and testing. In this manner, the CI/CD process is supported and then, the master branch is always in a deployable condition.

GitHub Flow is excellent for smaller teams working on projects that don’t require many revisions of the code, on the one hand. With short release cycles, the method is also incredibly quick and flexible. Rapid feedback loops and a straightforward methodology enable rapid and continuous deployment.

However, when projects get more complex, particularly those that require numerous versions of the code, GitHub Flow becomes inadequate. Moreover, GitHub Flow is more prone to faults and glitches. The master branch becomes susceptible in the event of a botched merge or insufficient testing of feature branches.

GitLab Flow

Similar to Github Flow, GitLab Flow has extra environmental branches, such as production, pre-production, and development. The work is all done in the development branch. Each new feature will originate from this branch, test it, and then merge it back in. The development branch will merge with the pre-production branch after it is ready for release. After that, this code will go through more testing before going into the production branch. Only code that is ready for production will be in the production branch. This will be in the production environment.

This tactic has a tracking mechanism embedded into it. It also allows continuous tracking of every problem throughout the whole development process. Multiple code versions may exist and keep the various environments apart. Then, divides the staging environment and the manufacturing environment completely. It connects with CI/CD processes with ease.

For certain organisations, however, this kind of branching strategy may prove to be a little too complex. So, to provide the optimum outcomes, each branch must be regularly and correctly handled.

Trunk-based Development

With trunk-based development (TBD), developers merge any change they make on a daily basis into a master branch. This indicates that the branches created by developers are typically little and transient. There should always be a release-ready state for the shared trunk. This makes it possible for developers to work together effectively, often, and in real-time in response to any changes.

CI/CD processes match extremely well since developers make minor changes often. Shorter feedback loops lead to increased productivity and collaboration since changes are immediately apparent.

TBD and feature flags work nicely together. It is possible for developers to toggle certain sections of code on and off. They can conceal a malfunctioning section of the code for a while. Process merging is not necessary since TBD doesn’t require large branches. TBD is more suited for experienced engineers with prior expertise in these kinds of settings, nevertheless.

Setting up and reviewing CI/CD Branching Strategy

The cornerstone of a team is a code-branching strategy. What activities on a branch initiate a build, test, and/or code review depends on the CI/CD method. It also controls the flow of code via the pipeline of DevOps.

We must review the below features as we plan the CI/CD strategy:

1. Number of commits done on an average day by developers?

2. The build run for each commit

3. Upon success, where does the developer’s commit go — mainline or master, shared dev code line?

4. When should a full build must run?

5. What is the plan for testing? What level of code coverage is necessary?

6. Testing on the server side? Analysis of static code?

7. What success or failure metrics are we looking for?

8. What deadlines would we like for the developer to get feedback?

The answers to these queries will decide the organisation of the branching CI/CD strategy.

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Conclusion

To summarise, implementing a thoughtful DevOps branching Strategy may enhance the organisation, efficiency, and collaboration of the development and deployment process, resulting in improved software quality and quicker delivery times.