CSU ScholarWorks

Getting Started

Using Docker

Install Docker

Install Dory

On OS X or Linux we recommend running Dory. It acts as a proxy allowing you to access domains locally such as app.test or tenant.app.test, making multitenant development more straightforward and prevents the need to bind ports locally. Be sure to adjust your ~/.dory.yml file to support the .test tld.

gem install dory

You can still run in development via docker with out Dory, but to do so please uncomment the ports section in docker-compose.yml

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/csuscholarworks/scholarworks.git
cd scholarworks

Build Docker containers

docker compose build

Start Dory and Docker containers

dory up
docker compose up

Run commands inside the container

To execute commands inside of the web container

docker compose exec web bash

Branching

Quick Legend

Instance	Branch	Description, Instructions, Notes
Production	production	Accepts merges from Working and Hotfixes
Working	master	Accepts merges from Features/Issues and Hotfixes
Features	feature-*	Always branch off HEAD of Working
Issues	bug-*	Always branch off HEAD of Working
Hotfix	hotfix-*	Always branch off Production

Main Branches

The main repository will always hold two evergreen branches:

master
production

The main branch should be considered origin/master and will be the main branch where the source code of HEAD always reflects a state with the latest delivered development changes for the next release. As a developer, you will be branching and merging from master.

Consider origin/production to always represent the latest code deployed to production. During day to day development, the production branch will not be interacted with.

When the source code in the master branch is stable and has been deployed, all of the changes will be merged into production and tagged with a release number. How this is done in detail will be discussed later.

Supporting Branches

Supporting branches are used to aid parallel development between team members, ease tracking of features, and to assist in quickly fixing live production problems. Unlike the main branches, these branches always have a limited life time, since they will be removed eventually.

The different types of branches we may use are:

Feature branches
Bug branches
Hotfix branches

Each of these branches have a specific purpose and are bound to strict rules as to which branches may be their originating branch and which branches must be their merge targets. Each branch and its usage is explained below.

Feature Branches

Feature branches are used when developing a new feature or enhancement which has the potential of a development lifespan longer than a single deployment. When starting development, the deployment in which this feature will be released may not be known. No matter when the feature branch will be finished, it will always be merged back into the master branch.

During the lifespan of the feature development, the lead should watch the master branch (network tool or branch tool in GitHub) to see if there have been commits since the feature was branched. Any and all changes to master should be merged into the feature before merging back to master; this can be done at various times during the project or at the end, but time to handle merge conflicts should be accounted for.

<tbd number> represents the project to which Project Management will be tracked.

Must branch from: master
Must merge back into: master
Branch naming convention: feature-<tbd number>

Working with a feature branch

If the branch does not exist yet (check with the Lead), create the branch locally and then push to GitHub. A feature branch should always be 'publicly' available. That is, development should never exist in just one developer's local branch.

$ git checkout -b feature-id master                 // creates a local branch for the new feature
$ git push origin feature-id                        // makes the new feature remotely available

Periodically, changes made to master (if any) should be merged back into your feature branch.

$ git merge master                                  // merges changes from master into feature branch

When development on the feature is complete, the lead (or engineer in charge) should merge changes into master and then make sure the remote branch is deleted.

$ git checkout master                               // change to the master branch  
$ git merge --no-ff feature-id                      // makes sure to create a commit object during merge
$ git push origin master                            // push merge changes
$ git push origin :feature-id                       // deletes the remote branch

Bug Branches

Bug branches differ from feature branches only semantically. Bug branches will be created when there is a bug on the live site that should be fixed and merged into the next deployment. For that reason, a bug branch typically will not last longer than one deployment cycle. Additionally, bug branches are used to explicitly track the difference between bug development and feature development. No matter when the bug branch will be finished, it will always be merged back into master.

Although likelihood will be less, during the lifespan of the bug development, the lead should watch the master branch (network tool or branch tool in GitHub) to see if there have been commits since the bug was branched. Any and all changes to master should be merged into the bug before merging back to master; this can be done at various times during the project or at the end, but time to handle merge conflicts should be accounted for.

<tbd number> represents the Basecamp project to which Project Management will be tracked.

Must branch from: master
Must merge back into: master
Branch naming convention: bug-<tbd number>

Working with a bug branch

If the branch does not exist yet (check with the Lead), create the branch locally and then push to GitHub. A bug branch should always be 'publicly' available. That is, development should never exist in just one developer's local branch.

$ git checkout -b bug-id master                     // creates a local branch for the new bug
$ git push origin bug-id                            // makes the new bug remotely available

Periodically, changes made to master (if any) should be merged back into your bug branch.

$ git merge master                                  // merges changes from master into bug branch

When development on the bug is complete, [the Lead] should merge changes into master and then make sure the remote branch is deleted.

$ git checkout master                               // change to the master branch  
$ git merge --no-ff bug-id                          // makes sure to create a commit object during merge
$ git push origin master                            // push merge changes
$ git push origin :bug-id                           // deletes the remote branch

Hotfix Branches

A hotfix branch comes from the need to act immediately upon an undesired state of a live production version. Additionally, because of the urgency, a hotfix is not required to be be pushed during a scheduled deployment. Due to these requirements, a hotfix branch is always branched from a tagged production branch. This is done for two reasons:

Development on the master branch can continue while the hotfix is being addressed.
A tagged production branch still represents what is in production. At the point in time where a hotfix is needed, there could have been multiple commits to master which would then no longer represent production.