Version Control

Version Control

We use Git for all projects.

Commit messages

[ex][m]: plotly json examples - fixes #23.

That is:

  • a tag: [ex] this is an example – you make these tags up and use them consistently.
  • a size: [m] a size of this commit one of the following: xs, s, m, l, xl.
  • a short descriptive sentence of what you did. I need this as well as what issue this refs as I need to be able to understand the commit on its own without reading something else.
  • Finally anything that involves referencing or closing a github issue. e.g. refs #xx or fixes #xx (fixes and closes are synonymous so use either one).

So command would look like this:

git commit -m '[ex][m]: plotly json examples - fixes #23.'

Branch management

We generally follow Git Flow, with some modifications, and some flexibility per project. The following should hold true for pretty much all projects:

  • Have a master branch.
  • Never commit directly to master.
  • Always work from a feature/{} or a fix/{} branch that is checked out from master.
  • Always reference issues from Git messages using #{issue_id}, and the various other related conventions used by most Git hosts.
  • Properly describe changes in commit messages: "Fixes database migration script failure on Python 2.7", not "Fix."
  • Prefer to use the "Squash and merge" approach for pull requests using GitHub web interface.