gihub

Create a new branch with git and manage branches

In your github fork, you need to keep your master branch clean, by clean I mean without any changes, like that you can create at any time a branch from your master. Each time, that you want to commit a bug or a feature, you need to create a branch for it, which will be a copy of your master branch.

When you do a pull request on a branch, you can continue to work on another branch and make another pull request on this other branch.

Before creating a new branch, pull the changes from upstream, your master needs to be up to date.

Create the branch on your local machine :

$ git branch <name_of_your_new_branch>

Push the branch on github :

$ git push origin <name_of_your_new_branch>

Switch to your new branch :

$ git checkout <name_of_your_new_branch>

When you want to commit something in your branch, be sure to be in your branch.

You can see all branches created by using

$ git branch

Which will show :

* about
  master
  master_test

Add a new remote for your branch :

$ git remote add <name_of_your_remote> <url>

Push changes from your commit into your branch :

$ git push origin <name_of_your_remote>

Delete a branch on your local filesytem :

$ git branch -d <name_of_your_new_branch>

Delete the branch on github :

$ git push origin :<name_of_your_new_branch>

The only difference is the : to say delete.

If you want to change the default branch, navigate to your fork and go into the Admin panel, in the drop-down list simply choose which default branch you want to use.