Git Branches: Intuition and Reality

Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by mr_mitm on Thursday November 23, 2023 @12:30PM (#38395165)

When the entire structure of commits is called a tree, I find the name "branch" fitting. The branch is identified by its head commit, so the path from head to root is uniquely defined and that's the branch. (Disregarding merges for now.)

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by cpeterso on Thursday November 23, 2023 @03:08PM (#38396956)

Leaning into the tree metaphor (and following the precedent of other version control systems), git should have used the term trunk instead of master or main.

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by hnarn on Thursday November 23, 2023 @04:23PM (#38397734)

Why? That would heavily imply that master/main is somehow technically different from all other branches (since a trunk is certainly not a branch), which to my knowledge is not true.

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by cpeterso on Friday November 24, 2023 @06:25PM (#38409517)

I see what you mean, but don't "master" and "main" also imply some special authority? Trunk-based development with branches forking off and merging back into the trunk (a DAG, unlike a real tree! :) is an extremely common workflow.

https://trunkbaseddevelopment.com/

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by Kuraj on Thursday November 23, 2023 @07:54PM (#38399605)

By following this metaphor, a trunk would be the original commit, whereas branches are the tree branch tips.

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by galaxyLogic on Thursday November 23, 2023 @08:24PM (#38399795)

And consider that because every folder can have its own .git subfolder, we can have several paralle trunks/repositories at the same time, meaning we have a forest.

I haven't really seen specific guidelines as to when and why should anyone start a new repo. Are there some? Or is "mono-repo" the best solution, and when and for whom. Surely we need more than one git-repo in the whole world?!

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by TeMPOraL on Thursday November 23, 2023 @12:43PM (#38395305)

> Disregarding merges for now.

Without disregarding them, it's not a tree, but a DAG.

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by dayjaby on Thursday November 23, 2023 @04:42PM (#38397900)

It is a tree. What makes you think it's just a DAG? Are there commits with multiple parent commits or what?

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by zaphar on Thursday November 23, 2023 @04:48PM (#38397939)

There absolutely can be. Merge commits have multiple parent commits for example. It's definitely a graph not just a tree.

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by dayjaby on Thursday November 23, 2023 @05:41PM (#38398479)

Parent comment was about disregarding merge commits.

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by zaphar on Thursday November 23, 2023 @07:21PM (#38399381)

You can't disregard merge commits. It's part of the structure.

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by imron on Thursday November 23, 2023 @04:47PM (#38397935)

Yes. Merge commits have two parents.

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by Izkata on Thursday November 23, 2023 @05:15PM (#38398205)

Two or more. I'm not sure there's a limit.

Try not to do this (imagine a 5-way merge conflict).

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by skrebbel on Thursday November 23, 2023 @03:11PM (#38396986)

FWIW “tree” has a specific, different meaning in Git. It’s a file tracking the contents of a directory.

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Re:Git Branches: Intuition and Reality by lmm on Thursday November 23, 2023 @08:10PM (#38399710)

Well yes if you disregard the thing that makes it not a tree then it is a tree. But you can't disregard that!

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