Repositories

This represents repositories for all projects. Note this does not include developers’ individual clones and branches

Master/Development branch

This is where all the development is completed. It will never have a stable version as new development will always be done here.

Feature Branch

This will be for large new features where multiple developers will need to work on it at once. Or where the development for the feature is expected to take a long time with many breaking changes. This should be used sparingly as most changes can just be done on the developer's clone of the project.

Release Branches

A new branch will be created for each release. The branch will be created as soon as there is a release candidate. Testing may be done after the branch is created and new bug fixes can be added and then merged back to the Master. Release Candidate = all issues completed, and only final testing is to be completed. Tags are to be created once the version is released.

Hotfix

To be done on the specific release branch. Hotfix may be an issue specific to that release. Therefore may not need adding to Master or may be difficult to merge if the master code has moved on. This will need to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Release naming conventions

Major.Minor.Release

Major _Incremented if: _

• Large new feature
• No direct upgrade path
• New technologies used

Minor Incremented if:

• New features added
• Large amount of bug fixes added

Release Incremented if:

• Small bug fixes only (Hotfix)
• Changes made to an old supported version
• Translation changes  

Release Branches

Changes made in release branches to be merged into Master branch. No changes should be merged into the release branch to help keep the release branch stable.

Feature Branches

Feature branch should be kept up to date with Master to avoid merge conflicts later. Only once all development is completed on the feature branch should the code be merged back into the Master. At this point the specific feature branch should not be used again.