git: create "temporary" integration branch

Question

I am relatively new to using git.

recently from master we branched +-10 feature branches. lets call them A, B, C, etc.

I want to merge these all together for testing. is it fine if I create a new branch, and merge in my features?

eg

[master] git checkout -b integration

[integration] git merge A

[integration] git merge B

[integration] etc

once all the features have been tested and approved, is it then safe to merge integration into master, and have the feature branch history maintained in the master log

eg

[integration] git checkout master
[master] git merge integration
[master] git branch -d integration

Thanks

Answer 1

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: yes and, assuming no changes are made to your master branch in the meantime, your merge to master will be a "fast forward" merge so after [master] git merge integration, the master branch will look like the integration branch prior to the merge.

The "branch history" will appear in the master branch. IMHO it's best not to think of your history as "branch history", rather as "code history".

If you want to record the fact the change came from a merge, use git merge --no-ff to force the creation of a merge commit even when a fast-forward commit (which keeps history linear when possible) would work.

See also Correct Git workflow for shared feature branch?