Advanced Git Techniques and Best Practices

Beyond Basic Git Commands

Git is more than just commit, push, and pull. Let's explore advanced techniques that can improve your version control workflow.

Advanced Branching Strategies

Git Flow Model

# Initialize git flow
git flow init

# Start a new feature
git flow feature start my-feature

# Finish a feature
git flow feature finish my-feature

# Start a hotfix
git flow hotfix start bug-fix

Branch Management

# List all branches with latest commits
git branch -v

# Delete merged branches
git branch --merged | grep -v "\*" | xargs -n 1 git branch -d

# Show branch hierarchy
git log --graph --oneline --all

Interactive Rebase

Cleaning Up Commits

# Start interactive rebase
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Commands available in rebase:
# p, pick = use commit
# r, reword = use commit, but edit the commit message
# e, edit = use commit, but stop for amending
# s, squash = use commit, but meld into previous commit
# f, fixup = like "squash", but discard this commit's log message

Advanced Git Commands

Bisect for Bug Hunting

# Start bisect
git bisect start

# Mark current version as bad
git bisect bad

# Mark last known good version
git bisect good v1.0

# Git will checkout commits for you to test
# Mark each as good or bad until found
git bisect good  # or
git bisect bad

# End bisect
git bisect reset

Cherry-picking

# Cherry-pick a specific commit
git cherry-pick abc123

# Cherry-pick without committing
git cherry-pick -n abc123

# Cherry-pick a range of commits
git cherry-pick abc123..def456

Git Hooks

Pre-commit Hook Example

#!/bin/sh
# .git/hooks/pre-commit

# Run tests before commit
npm test

# Check code formatting
npm run lint

# Exit with non-zero status if any commands fail

Commit Message Hook

#!/bin/sh
# .git/hooks/commit-msg

# Enforce conventional commits
if ! grep -qE '^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|test|chore): .+' "$1"; then
    echo "Commit message must follow conventional commits format"
    exit 1
fi

Advanced Git Configuration

Global Git Config

# Set up aliases
git config --global alias.st status
git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.br branch
git config --global alias.ci commit

# Custom log format
git config --global alias.lg "log --color --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset' --abbrev-commit"

Git Worktree

Managing Multiple Working Trees

# Create a new worktree
git worktree add ../feature-branch feature

# List worktrees
git worktree list

# Remove a worktree
git worktree remove ../feature-branch

Advanced Merge Techniques

Merge Strategies

# Recursive strategy with patience algorithm
git merge --strategy-option=patience feature

# Octopus merge for multiple branches
git merge branch1 branch2 branch3

# Rebase merge
git merge --rebase feature

Git for Large Projects

Partial Clone and Sparse Checkout

# Clone with limited history
git clone --depth 1 repository-url

# Sparse checkout
git sparse-checkout set folder1/ folder2/

# Update sparse checkout
git sparse-checkout add folder3/

Best Practices

Commit Messages

# Good commit message format
feat: add new user authentication system

- Implement JWT tokens
- Add password hashing
- Create user sessions

Branch Naming

feature/user-auth
bugfix/login-error
hotfix/security-patch
release/v1.2.0

Git Attributes

# Auto detect text files and perform LF normalization
* text=auto

# Declare files that will always have CRLF line endings
*.bat text eol=crlf

# Denote binary files
*.png binary
*.jpg binary

Troubleshooting

Common Issues and Solutions

# Fix detached HEAD
git checkout main

# Recover lost commits
git reflog
git checkout HEAD@{1}

# Undo last commit
git reset --soft HEAD^

# Clean untracked files
git clean -fd

Conclusion

Mastering these advanced Git techniques can significantly improve your development workflow and make you more efficient at version control.