GIT Rename Branch: Best Practices and Techniques For 2023

GIT provides adaptable branching techniques, but what does that actually mean? Branching strategies refer to a collection of guidelines or standards that developers and teams can use to construct new branches, their flows, etc. This is why you must read this post and learn the best GIT rename branch techniques.

The code maintenance team is hampered by misunderstandings caused by improper naming standards. GIT’s best renaming practices for branching cannot be disregarded. Therefore, read this post till the end.

Types Of GIT Rename Branches

There are various types of GIT Rename branches that are used for e-commerce website development, like:

1. Regular GIT Branches

These GIT rename branches will always be accessible in your GIT repository. They have an easy-to-understand naming scheme.

• The primary development branch is called Development (dev). The purpose of the dev branch is to allow developers to change codes while preventing them from directly altering the master branch. After testing, changes on the dev branch are merged into the master branch after going through reviews.
• The GIT repository’s default branch is called Master (master). It won’t permit direct check-ins and ought to be stable at all times. It can only be merged following code review. The master must be maintained in a stable and current state by every member of the team.
• All the code for QA and automation testing of all implemented modifications are located in the QA (QA) or test branch. To ensure that the codebase is stable, changes must go through quality assurance testing before being applied to the production environment.

2. Temporary GIT Branches

These are GIT branches to which modifications can be added and removed, as their name suggests. These are some examples:

• Fixing bugs
• Branching Hot Fix Feature Trees
• Investigative Branches
• branches in work-in-progress

The forms and naming rules for such temporary branches come in a wide variety. They are used by developers of Google Ad Intelligence software.

Best GIT Rename Branch Techniques In 2023

The best GIT rename branch techniques that developers are using in 2023 to change branch name GIT are:

1. Starting Branch Name With The Group Word

This is one of the best renamed GIT branch practices. Any word that fits your process can be used as the group word.

It’s best to use short words such as:

• Bug – The issue that needs to be resolved quickly
• WIP – This means Work-In-Progress, and you are aware that it won’t be completed anytime soon.

You can tell what this GIT rename branch is about and what it’s for by glancing at the branch name.

Here are some examples:

• The devs are working to resolve logo alignment problems under the bug-logo-alignment-issue branch.
• Under the wip-ioc-container-added branch, work is underway for adding an IoC container.

2. Using Unique ID As Branch Names

The issue tracker ID can be used for naming your branch. When I’m trying to solve bugs, this approach is my preferred one. Here’s an example:

WIP-8712-add-testing-module

The name makes it clear that this branch is relevant for introducing a testing module; the issue’s tracking ID is 8712, and work is ongoing.

The ability to track progress from an external system is yet another benefit of including an external ID for tracking in the name of the branch.

3. Use A Slash Or An Hyphen As Separators

Developers frequently use hyphens or slashes as separators. Depending on your preferences and those of your team, you should choose one.

In my view, hyphens make a name easier to understand, making them an acceptable separator for branch names. Hyphens, slashes, and underscores are all acceptable. Here, your goal is to be consistent with your naming practices.

The use of a separator in the branch name has two key benefits. It makes it simpler to handle, more so if you have several branches to deal with. Therefore, it makes it easier to read and prevents confusion.

Example 1: The name of a GIT rename branch without any separators:  featureupgradejqueryversionloginmodule

Example 2: You can make the GIT branch name understandable by including a separator ( In this case, an underscore ): feature_upgrade_jquery_version_login_module

4. Use Your Author’s Name

Many businesses choose to incorporate authors’ names as the branch name using the following format:

<author>_<branch-type>_<branch-name>

Here, it will appear like this:

John.Doe_feature_new-experimental-changes

With additional systems, this technique makes it simple to follow the work and development of several developers.

5. Numbers Are A Big NO

Some programmers only include the problem ID as a part of the branch name, which is detrimental to the workflow.

For instance, 9912 is the name of a GIT rename local branch. However, what does this mysterious number indicate? It just increases uncertainty and the possibility of errors, particularly when fusing with other GIT branches.

6. Avoid Conventional Names

It’s not a good idea to mix and match all GIT rename branch choices. It merely makes things more complicated and confusing overall.

Which naming technique that the team will use at work should be decided upon and followed consistently. What matters most is consistency.

7. Avoid Long Names

A GIT rename branch name must be specific and informative in order to be effective. Let’s look at a few samples once more:

• wip_login_module_which_will_used_in_the_public_website
• wip_login_module_which_will_used_in_the_internal_website

The branch names there are elaborate and lengthy. It is not required. You could substitute the following alternative:

wip_feature_login_module

Here, this GIT rename branch has a purpose that is explained in the brief name, it is.

Branching Out

GIT rename branch concepts are strong, but you must properly and successfully manage the GIT branches. One of the requirements is that all teams adhere to the same rules, particularly with regard to the naming patterns for your repository.

Enforce the standards to ensure your staff is adhering to the accepted norms. Utilizing GIT hooks, such as a pre-commitment hook, is one of the simplest methods. I’m hoping that will help you have a better understanding of the GIT rename branch models and their name structure.

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