Git Branching Strategy Vocabulary Exercises

1 / 5

A tech lead says: "Our team practices trunk-based development."

What characterises trunk-based development (TBD)?

Trunk-based development (TBD) vs. GitFlow:

Approach	Branch lifetime	Best suited for
TBD	Hours to 1–2 days max	Continuous delivery, web apps
GitFlow	Weeks (features), days (hotfix)	Versioned software, mobile apps

TBD benefits: CI works effectively, reduces merge hell, forces incremental changes. Feature flags handle incomplete work on trunk. Key vocabulary: trunk, short-lived branch, feature flag for incomplete work, continuous integration prerequisite.

2 / 5

A team uses the GitFlow branching model.

Which branches are long-lived in GitFlow?

GitFlow branch structure:

Branch	Lifetime	Purpose
`main`	Long-lived	Production-ready code only
`develop`	Long-lived	Integration base for features
`feature/*`	Temporary	One feature, merges to develop
`release/*`	Temporary	Release stabilisation
`hotfix/*`	Temporary	Critical fix off main

Key vocabulary: integration branch, release stabilisation, hotfix off main, branch lifetime.

3 / 5

A team's branch naming convention requires: feat/JIRA-1234-short-description

What purpose do branch naming conventions serve in a team codebase?

Branch naming convention benefits:

Convention example	Benefit
`feat/JIRA-1234-`	Auto-populate PR with ticket link; JIRA auto-transition
`fix/`, `chore/`, `spike/`	Filter git log by type; clear intent signal

Key vocabulary: branch naming convention, ticket traceability, git log readability, automation hook on branch name.

4 / 5

A PR has this status: "Blocked — branched off an outdated base and needs to be rebased."

What does "outdated base" mean and why does it block merging?

Outdated base — the branch has diverged from main:

Situation	Solution
Branch base is behind main	`git rebase main` or `git merge main`
Merge conflicts exist	Resolve conflicts, then push

Why it blocks: merge conflicts may exist; CI may not have tested the branch against current main. Key vocabulary: base branch, diverged branch, rebase to update, merge conflict resolution, behind main by N commits.

5 / 5

A team announces: "We're migrating from feature branch per developer to a shared feature branch per story."

What risk does this migration introduce?

Shared branch risks:

Risk	Mitigation
Push conflicts between developers	Frequent pulls, short-lived branch
Overwritten work if uncoordinated	Communicate before pushing force-updates
In-branch integration complexity	Frequent rebases, small atomic commits

Key vocabulary: concurrent development conflict, branch-level coordination, push race condition, shared branch hygiene.