10 Git Repository Structure Best Practices

A well-organized Git repository can make a big difference in your team’s development process. It can help developers find the code they need quickly and easily, and it can also help keep the codebase clean and organized.

In this article, we’ll discuss 10 best practices for organizing your Git repository. By following these best practices, you can make your repository more user-friendly and easier to navigate.

1. Use a single repository for each project

When you have multiple projects in a single repository, it can be difficult to keep track of which changes go with which project. This can lead to confusion and errors when trying to push or pull specific projects.

Additionally, if you ever need to share your code with someone else, it will be much easier to do if each project has its own repository. This way, the person you’re sharing with can easily clone the specific repository they need, rather than having to clone an entire collection of repositories.

2. Keep your master branch clean

The master branch is the default branch in git, and it’s also the branch that gets deployed to production. This means that every change that goes into the master branch should be tested and approved before it’s merged in.

If you keep your master branch clean, you’ll always know that what’s in production is stable and working correctly. This will save you a lot of headaches down the road.

To keep your master branch clean, you should create a new branch for each feature or bug fix that you work on. Once you’ve finished testing and verifying your changes, you can then merge your branch into master.

3. Avoid long-running branches

Suppose you have a main development branch (typically named “master” or “develop”), and you create a new branch off of that to work on a new feature. Once the feature is complete, you merge it back into the main development branch.

If you make changes to the main development branch while the new feature branch is still open, those changes will need to be merged into the new branch when you’re ready to finish it. This can lead to merge conflicts, which can be difficult to resolve.

It’s much easier to avoid this problem by keeping your branches short-lived. As soon as you finish working on a branch, merge it back into the main development branch. That way, you’ll always have the latest changes from the main development branch, and you won’t have to worry about merge conflicts.

4. Make frequent, small commits

When you make a commit, git creates a snapshot of your project at that point in time. If you make infrequent, large commits, those snapshots will be far apart and it will be difficult to determine what changed between them. On the other hand, if you make frequent, small commits, the snapshots will be close together and it will be easy to see what changed between them.

Not only does this make it easier to see what changed between commits, but it also makes it easier to revert changes if necessary. For example, suppose you make a change that breaks your code and you don’t realize it until after you’ve made a commit. If you’ve made several other changes since then, reverting back to the last working commit will be much more difficult. However, if you’ve only made a few small changes since then, reverting back to the last working commit will be much easier.

So, to sum up, making frequent, small commits is important because it makes it easier to see what changed between commits and makes it easier to revert changes if necessary.

5. Don’t commit half-done work

Suppose you’re working on a new feature for your project. You start by creating a new branch, and then you make a bunch of commits as you work on the feature. But then you realize that you’re not quite done with the feature yet, so you leave it unfinished and switch to another branch to work on something else.

Later, you come back to the first branch to finish the feature. But now you have a problem: the commits you made while the feature was only half-done are mixed in with the commits for the finished feature. This makes it difficult to understand what changed between the two versions, and it makes it harder to revert the changes if necessary.

The solution is simple: don’t commit half-done work. If you’re not sure whether a change is ready to be committed, put it in a separate branch and finish it before merging it into the main branch. That way, your history will be clean and easy to understand.

6. Test your changes before committing them

When you’re working on a project, it’s important to make sure that your changes don’t break the build or cause any other problems. By testing your changes before committing them, you can be sure that they won’t break anything.

This is especially important when you’re working on a team project, because if you commit your changes and they break the build, it can cause problems for other members of the team.

So, how do you test your changes before committing them?

There are a few different ways to do this, but one of the most common methods is to use a tool like Jenkins.

Jenkins is a continuous integration tool that can automatically build and test your code every time you commit changes. This means that you can be sure that your changes won’t break the build, and it also means that you can fix any problems before they cause problems for other members of the team.

Another way to test your changes before committing them is to use a tool like Travis CI.

Travis CI is a continuous integration service that can automatically build and test your code every time you commit changes. This means that you can be sure that your changes won’t break the build, and it also means that you can fix any problems before they cause problems for other members of the team.

You can also use a tool like CircleCI.

CircleCI is a continuous integration and delivery platform that can automatically build, test, and deploy your code every time you commit changes. This means that you can be sure that your changes won’t break the build or cause any problems when they’re deployed to production.

Finally, you can use a tool like GitLab CI.

GitLab CI is a continuous integration tool that can automatically build and test your code every time you commit changes. This means that you can be sure that your changes won’t break the build, and it also means that you can fix any problems before they cause problems for other members of the team.

Testing your changes before committing them is a crucial best practice for git repository structure, and using a tool like Jenkins, Travis CI, CircleCI, or GitLab CI is a great way to do it.

7. Write good commit messages

Commit messages are like mini-changelogs for your codebase. They should be clear, concise, and descriptive. When done well, they can help developers (and other stakeholders) understand the purpose of a change without having to dig through the code itself.

Bad commit messages, on the other hand, can be confusing and make it difficult to understand the intent of a change. This can lead to frustration and wasted time trying to figure out what was changed and why.

So, how do you write good commit messages?

Here are some tips:

1. Use the imperative mood in your subject line
2. Keep the subject line short (less than 50 characters is ideal)
3. Capitalize the subject line
4. Do not end the subject line with a period
5. Use the body of the message to provide more details about the change

following these simple guidelines will go a long way towards making your git repository structure more understandable and easier to use.

8. Follow the 50/72 rule

This rule states that each line of code in a file should have no more than 50 characters, and each commit message should have no more than 72 characters.

The reason for this is twofold. First, it ensures that files are easy to read and understand, as they can be viewed without scrolling horizontally. Second, it keeps commit messages concise and clear, so that they can be quickly scanned and understood.

Both of these factors contribute to making git repositories more maintainable and easier to work with, which is why the 50/72 rule is so important.

9. Use Git hooks to automate tasks

Git hooks are scripts that run automatically every time a specific event occurs in a git repository. For example, you could have a script that runs every time someone commits to the repository, or every time someone pushes to a certain branch.

You can use git hooks to automate all sorts of tasks, like running tests, building code, or even sending notifications. By automating these tasks, you can save yourself and your team a lot of time and effort.

There are two types of git hooks: client-side hooks and server-side hooks. Client-side hooks are stored in the .git/hooks directory of a git repository, and they run on the developer’s computer. Server-side hooks are stored on the git server, and they run when a specific event occurs on the server.

Both types of hooks are useful, but server-side hooks are generally more powerful because they can be used to enforce policies or trigger actions on the server. For example, you could use a server-side hook to prevent someone from pushing code to a production branch unless they have first passed all of the tests.

If you’re not using git hooks yet, you should start. They can save you a lot of time and help keep your git repositories clean and organized.

10. Track new remote branches automatically

Suppose you have a remote repository with two branches, master and develop. You clone the repository locally, and then checkout the develop branch.

Now, suppose someone else creates a new branch on the remote repository, called feature/foo. If you don’t have your local repository configured to track new remote branches automatically, then when you run git fetch, the new branch won’t be brought down to your local repository.

This can cause problems if you’re working on the develop branch and need to merge in the changes from the new branch. To avoid these problems, it’s best to configure your repository to track new remote branches automatically.

You can do this by running the following command:

git config –global remote.origin.fetch +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

This will tell git to fetch all of the remote branches, and create corresponding local branches for each one.