Git Collaboration on GitHub: Forks, Branches, and Pull Requests

GitHub collaboration is the practice of contributing to shared or third-party repositories using Git’s distributed workflow: you fork a repository (copy it to your own account), create a branch for your changes, then open a pull request so the maintainer can review and merge them. Small teams with write access can skip forking and collaborate directly on branches within a shared repository.

In my post “GIT in 10 minutes”, I have covered the basics of Git setup and a few workflow commands to get started with using Git (version control system). As promised, I will go into the topic of how to use Git for collaborative work. Mainly, I will focus on contributions to other repositories, for instance, open-source or projects of your colleagues and friends. Let’s go!

GitHub Collaboration Models: Forking vs Shared Repository

As explained in GitHub documentation, GitHub supports two ways of collaborative work:

1. Forking. You create a repository fork, which essentially copies a repository to your own GitHub account. You do not need to have any permissions for the copied repository. The repository owner can accept your pull request and merge your changes into the original repository.
2. Shared repository. In small teams, you can add project collaborators, who usually work on their own branches and push their contributions directly. Pull requests still let you review the code and comment on proposed changes before merging.

Forking and Pull Requests: Step-by-Step Git Workflow

With forks, you can make code changes without affecting the parent repository. Let’s call the parent repository upstream and your own (forked) repository origin. To add an upstream repository, run:

Syncing Your Fork with the Upstream Repository

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Shared Repository

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Conclusion: GitHub Collaboration Workflow Summary

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References

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