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--- docs:git:working_copies_of_multiple_branches [2009/11/07 22:50] – created billh
+++ docs:git:working_copies_of_multiple_branches [2009/11/08 01:07] (current) – billh
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== working copies of multiple branches ======
-Sometimes during development we need to have working copies of more than one branch at the same time.  With svn this was simple, because working copies of each branch (and/or trunk) would exist at the same time after a checkout.
+Sometimes during development we need to have working copies of more than one branch at the same time.  With svn this was simple, because working copies of each branch (and/or trunk) would exist at the same time after a checkout.  A single working copy using git would only reflect the active branch.
-A single working copy using git would only reflect the active branch.  My preference for doing this with git was to have a "master" working copy with my repo that would hold all changes, and another cloned copy that would act as the alternate branch.
 (assume master working copy/repo is at /foo/base/.git)
+===== simple solution =====
+I want to work on an upstream branch other than "master".
+<code>
+cd /foo/base
+git branch alt
+  (make sure you have a branch called 'alt' in the main repo before cloning)
+cd ..
+git clone /foo/base /foo/alt
+cd /foo/alt
+git branch -a
+  (see that alt is not there because only master is tracked; unless another branch was active!)
+git checkout --track -b alt origin/alt
+  (this creates a local branch 'alt' based on the upstream branch and switches your working
+  copy to that branch; git push, git fetch, git pull are all configured automatically)
+git pull
+git push origin alt
+  (you can also just run 'git push' unless you don't want to update other branches)
+</code>
+Your .git/config file will show the alt branch configured like this:<code>
+[branch "alt"]
+    remote = origin
+    merge = refs/heads/alt
+</code>
+===== manual solution =====
+:!:Please use the "simple solution" above instead.  This solution is kept to see how it can manually be done.
+My preference for doing this with git was to have a "master" working copy with my repo that would hold all changes, and another cloned copy that would act as the alternate branch.
 <code>
 mkdir /foo/alt
@@ Line 11: / Line 40: @@
 git branch alt
 git checkout alt
+</code>
+This line actually modifies your .git/config file:<code>
 git config remote.origin.push alt:alt
+</code>
+The way it modifies the file looks like this:<code>
+# BEFORE
+[remote "origin"]
+    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
+    url = /htdocs/public_html/js/Autofill-clone/../Autofill
+# AFTER
+[remote "origin"]
+    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
+    url = /htdocs/public_html/js/Autofill-clone/../Autofill
+    push = alt:alt
+</code>
+<code>
 # work work work
 git push
@@ Line 27: / Line 75: @@
  * [new branch]      alt -> alt
 </code>
+===== manually adding git pull capability =====
+git pull actually does a git fetch then a git merge operation for you.  If you want to also be pulling (merging) any changes that occur on this alt branch on the main repo (/foo/base), you can run this:<code>
+git config branch.alt.remote origin
+git config branch.alt.merge refs/heads/alt
+</code>
+The above commands will modify your /foo/alt/.git/config file as follows:<code>
+[branch "alt"]
+     remote = origin
+     merge = refs/heads/alt
+</code>
+You should now be able to 'git pull' and merge any changes from the main repo.
+===== External Links =====
+* [[http://www.sourcemage.org/Git_Guide|Git Guide]] (see section titled **I want to work on an upstream branch other than "master"**)