This morning, I read two opinions on refactoring.
- Opinion 1 (Page not present)
- Opinion 2 (Page not present)
They recommend branching (and subsequently merging) code to:
- Keep the trunk clean.
- Allow a developer to walk away from risky changes.
In my experience (particularly with Borland's StarTeam), merging is a non-trival operation. And for that reason, I branch only when I must (i.e. when I want to freeze a release candidate).
In theory, branching makes sense, but the mechanics of merging make it a very risky operation.
My questions:
- Do you feel comfortable merging code?
- Do you branch code for reasons other than freezing a release candidate?