Github Protected Branches with GitFlow

Question

I've got a repository with my develop branch protected and I'm using the GitFlow branching model. There's two branches; develop (containing features currently being developed) and master (latest deployed production code).

My develop branch prevents commits being directly made via GitHub's Protected branches. When you locally finish a hotfix using GitFlow, it automatically merges the hotfix branch into your local master and develop branches. However, pushing changes directly on the develop branch are not permitted as this is a protected branch

How can you overcome this? At the minute everytime I am creating a hotfix I have to:

Manually turn off the branch protection
Push the develop branch
Turn it back on

This is not automated and therefore, not really acceptable.

Hi! Did my answer help you by any chance? Or did you find a solution in the meantime? — creyD, Jul 31 '19 at 07:11
Nope, because you have to turn off branch protection nor does it use the same branch structure as Gitflow. — Mark Walsh, Jul 31 '19 at 16:45
The commands can be limiting. Deploy the hotfix first. Then create a PR from `hotfix/*` to `main` / `master` and to `develop` and let the team approve. — Baz Guvenkaya, Apr 01 '22 at 05:51

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 13 '17 at 16:12

1

Are you the owner of the GitHub project and do you have the administrator role setup with your account (or can you grant administrator access to your account)?

In this case I would recommend you not to protect the branch for administrators. This way you can guarantee that other persons are not pushing directly to develop, but all "knowledged devs" with administrator access are able to. They should be aware of what they are doing, though.

You can edit this behaviour under https://github.com/${name}/${repo}/settings/branches/. My settings do look like this (the last checkbox is important):

Note: maybe you could also use the "Restrict who can push to this branch" option.

answered Jul 13 '17 at 16:12

Stefan Medack

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That is not really a solution in my opinion, as people protect their branches for a reason. To bypass that is to negate those choices. – Thermometer May 03 '18 at 07:56
I know what you mean @Thermometer and I would agree. If your branches are protected from everybody on the team you would most likely not use gitflow but another way to review and merge your changes. However, the OP seems to be the admin of the repo, since he can change the restrictions manually. So I assumed he wants to have protected branches for other contributors, but also wants to use gitflow for himself. In this case my proposal is (afaik) the only option. – Stefan Medack May 03 '18 at 08:11
Yeah it is a fine workaround. We are however also searching for a solution that works with these Github branch restrictions and the git flow commandline tool or concept. – Thermometer May 03 '18 at 08:51

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 22 '20 at 15:18

Enable 'Require pull-requests' on GitHub.

After you merge the hotfix in your local master you can create a hotfix branch from it, to create a pull-request in origin. Your master will be different, but you can reset and stash and pull in the origin/master.

git checkout -b hotfix
git push origin hotfix
# merge
git checkout master
git reset origin/master
git stash
git pull --rebase

Github Protected Branches with GitFlow

2 Answers2

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