Keep different content of a particular file in a Git branch

Question

I have a config.php which suppose to be different in content in different branches, e.g. testing and master.

I have asked in another question (Prevent merging a file from master with Git) that how to prevent this file from merging.

But I am wondering, is this the correct way to do so?

I believe this is quite a common use case to have different config files in different environments and you want the config to keep tracked, right?

Answer 1

For a config file, one solution is to not version it (that way, no merge issue!)

You would use a content filter driver:

You would version:

• one value file (for master environment)
• one value file (for dev environment)
• one template file (with placeholder variables like @PORT_NUMBER@)
• one 'smudge' script able, based on the current branch, and based on the content of the checked out file (here the template file) to generate the actual config file (which remains 'private', ie not-versioned).
• one 'clean' script able to detect any value changes in the private config file, and store those changed values back in the (versioned) value files.