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0 pointsjoshuamorton7y ago0 comments

Your last paragraph doesn't sound like anything at Google. Most engineers will never use branches at all, and even fewer will use branches that merge into trunk (instead of away from it).

0 comments

flukus7y ago

There is a set of code changes locally and those changes are bundled off to the test server to run the full test suite? That's a branch.

Now let's say I break a project sharing this code and because I'm not an expert in all 2 billion LoC and 3000 projects google is running I need to enlist some help in fixing what I broke. Presumably there is a way for the developers on that downstream project to pull in my change set? That's a shared branch.

Now assuming I can get all of these planets aligned correctly I'm going to need to take this set of changes and put it into the master version aren't I? That's merging my branch into trunk.

ebikelaw7y ago

Your mental model of how this works within Google is completely foreign to me. I think you've made an unfounded assumption somewhere.

joshuamortonOP7y ago

Yeah that second thing doesn't exist. That first thing doesn't really exist the way you conceptualize either, I don't think.

flukus7y ago

Can anyone articulate how it does work and where I'm going wrong then? The conversations feeling pretty one sided here.

You said the first thing doesn't exist? Do you not have local changes or are these changes not shared with the test/build server? Having a set of patches, code changes, whatever sounds like a branch to me, are you being too literal with the word branch?

For the second part what doesn't exist? Do you not make changes that breaks other peoples code? Do you not get them to help fix it? Can you not share your work in progress changes with others? Can you goes collaborate on changes at all?

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joatmon-snoo7y ago

Google internally has many concepts of branches. What you describe is not any of them.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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flukus7y ago

There is a set of code changes locally and those changes are bundled off to the test server to run the full test suite? That's a branch.

Now assuming I can get all of these planets aligned correctly I'm going to need to take this set of changes and put it into the master version aren't I? That's merging my branch into trunk.

ebikelaw7y ago

Your mental model of how this works within Google is completely foreign to me. I think you've made an unfounded assumption somewhere.

joshuamortonOP7y ago

Yeah that second thing doesn't exist. That first thing doesn't really exist the way you conceptualize either, I don't think.

flukus7y ago

Can anyone articulate how it does work and where I'm going wrong then? The conversations feeling pretty one sided here.

1 more reply

joatmon-snoo7y ago

Google internally has many concepts of branches. What you describe is not any of them.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse