Git hotfix merging to master and master to develop

Question

If I have two branches: master and develop . All the releases come from the master branch and all features are developed from the develop branch.

If I create a hotfix branch from master and then merge it back to master I think I have two options from there:

1. Merge to master and then to develop
2. Merge to master and master to develop

My question is what is the difference and what kind of problems I might have going with either one?

Answer 1

In theory, there should be absolutely no difference.

Once you've merged the hotfix branch in to master , master and the tip of the hotfix branch are at exactly the same point.

So whether you merge master or hotfix in to develop , you end up with the same outcome.

Having said that, I personally think you should go with option 1.

With master being for release only, I feel you should never merge from master back in to develop , only from develop in to master .

Keeping this flow one way helps keep things in order. You know in your head you can't make any changes directly on master , as you won't have a way of getting them back in to develop . You either have to hotfix and merge in to both, or create a feature on develop .

Hope that helps!