(For simplicity) I have a master
branch and a dev
in my Git-repo.
I want to ensure the master
branch is always working, so all work I do should be in the dev
branch.
However, when I merge my changes in with a --no-ff
merge, I tend to stay in the master
branch, and just continue working in it (because I forget to checkout my dev
branch).
Can I put up a rule for the master
branch, which states I can't do commits, and fast-forward merges, but only --no-ff
merges from another branch?
This must work for private hosted repositories (ergo not GitHub and BitBucket).
Yes, it is possible. You must create pre-commit hook which rejects commits to master branch. Git doesn't call pre-commit hook when you call merge command, so this hook will be rejecting only regular commits.
- Go to your repository.
Create file .git/hooks/pre-commit with following content:
#!/bin/sh
branch="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)"
if [ "$branch" = "master" ]; then
echo "You can't commit directly to master branch"
exit 1
fi
Make it executable (not required on Windows):
$ chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit
To disable fast-forward merges you must also add following option to your .git/config file:
[branch "master"]
mergeoptions = --no-ff
If you want also protect master branch on your remote, check this answer: How to restrict access to master branch on git
It may make sense to install it globally via
git config --global core.hooksPath ~/githooks
and moving that pre-commit
file into that directory