Parent/master project in git

Question

I have a project "A" that is a Git repository. I would like to be able to make multiple copies of project A (B and C), and modify them for clients.

"A" is the master so sometimes when I do new functionality i would like to be able to pull them into B or C. But some commits should just stay in A and only be used if making a new clone.

How do I do that with Git? That is:

• how to copy A? (Clone?)
• how to get specific commits into B and C?

Please keep in mind that this all happening locally - not on GitHub. I use OS X.

Answer 1

• how to copy A?

git clone is the way, meaning you establish a publication link between A and B,C, allowing for pushing/pulling commits between them.

• how to get specific commits into B and C?

By having in the repo A:

• private branches where you develop as many feature you want (but this branch is never pushed anywhere else)
• public branch which will be pushed to B and C
• merge or rebase --onto your commits from your private branch on top of your public branch, then push that public branch to B or C.

---

One workflow would be for instance:

cd ~/projectA
git checkout master
git branch private
# do some commits, some private, some useful to a
git checkout master
git branch feature_for_a
git cherry-pick sha1_from_private

cd ~/project_B
git fetch project_A
git checkout --track feature_for_a # check modifs for a
git checkout master
git merge feature_for_a
# do some client specific modifications

Answer 2

What about this approach:

mkdir project_a
[make entire project]
git add .
git commit -a -m "Initial commit"

git clone project_a project_b

[make bugfix in project_a]
git commit -a -m "VERY important Bugfix"
[make insignificant change]
git commit -a -m "change that doesn't matter to anyone in the world"

Now I want to get the very important bugfix:

In the dir. of project_b
git fetch
git cherrypick -x [SHA of the very important bugfix]

Are there any drawbacks to this? As I see it I can pick the commits I want. But what if I do a git pull in project_b by mistake? Won't that give me a ton of problems?