Trunk-based development
Introduction
Trunk-based development is a software development approach where all developers work on a single branch, known as the 'trunk'. This method emphasizes continuous integration and short-lived feature branches, if any, to enhance collaboration and reduce integration challenges.
Purpose
- Rapid Integration: Facilitate frequent and early integration of changes to avoid complex merges.
- Collaboration Enhancement: Encourage collaboration and shared ownership of the codebase.
- Continuous Delivery Readiness: Keep the code in a deployable state, enabling rapid releases.
Process
- Single Source of Truth: Use the trunk as the primary branch for all development work.
- Short-Lived Branches: Create feature branches for specific features or fixes, merging them back into the trunk quickly.
- Regular Commits: Encourage developers to commit changes to the trunk frequently.
- Automated Testing: Implement automated tests to validate changes as they are integrated.
Key Features
- Minimal Branching: Avoid or minimize long-lived branches to reduce integration overhead.
- Continuous Integration: Regularly integrate and test changes to maintain code quality.
- Small, Incremental Changes: Break work into small, manageable chunks for easier integration and testing.
Best Practices
- Automate Testing: Use automated testing to catch integration issues early.
- Frequent Integration: Merge changes back to the trunk daily, if not more often.
- Peer Review: Implement code review processes to maintain code quality.
- Clear Guidelines: Establish clear guidelines for branching and merging to maintain discipline in the approach.
Conclusion
Trunk-based development is a powerful approach that promotes a more collaborative and efficient workflow in software development. By focusing on a single source of truth and regular integration, teams can achieve faster, more reliable releases, and maintain a high standard of code quality. See how to improve your tech team efficency with feature flags and trunk based development.