Version Control & Git Workflows Flashcards

What is the difference between 'git fetch' and 'git pull'?

Answer: git fetch only downloads remote changes; git pull downloads and merges them

'git fetch' retrieves remote changes into your local repo without modifying your working branch, while 'git pull' fetches and automatically merges.

Which strategy minimizes merge conflicts by keeping feature branches short-lived and merging frequently?

Answer: Trunk-Based Development

Trunk-Based Development keeps branches short-lived (hours to a day) and promotes frequent integration, dramatically reducing merge conflict risk.

What is a 'pull request' (or 'merge request') primarily used for in a team DevOps workflow?

Answer: Proposing code changes and triggering peer review before merging

Pull requests provide a structured way for developers to propose changes, discuss them, run automated checks, and get peer approval before merging.

What does 'git cherry-pick' do?

Answer: Applies a specific commit from one branch onto another

'git cherry-pick' copies a specific commit by its hash and applies it to the current branch, useful for backporting fixes.

In Git, what is 'origin' by default?

Answer: The default name for the remote repository a project was cloned from

When you clone a repository, Git automatically names the source remote 'origin', which serves as the default push/pull target.

What Git workflow practice does DORA research identify as a key predictor of high software delivery performance?

Answer: Working in small batches with trunk-based development

DORA research consistently finds that working in small batches with trunk-based development correlates strongly with elite software delivery performance.

Which Git command shows the commit history including all branches in a visual graph format?

Answer: git log --all --graph --oneline

'git log --all --graph --oneline' renders an ASCII graph of all branch histories in a compact single-line format.