Confusion regarding github workflow

Question

I have been reading github workflow for a while, but still bit confused in certain part.

My understanding of github workflow:

1. Create a branch off from master and given a descriptively name(ie: new-oauth2-scopes)
2. Commit to that branch locally and regularly push your work to the same named branch on the server
3. Open a pull request and merge it to master after review and sign off the feature
4. Once it is merged and pushed to master, you can and should deploy immediately

I have two confusions:

1. When our QA can sign off the feature? I can deploy a feature to a dedicated location and QA can test there. But as we need to merge to master and then deploy to production, does QA need to do the final sign off after merge to master (in case something went wrong during merge)?

2. When multiple features are on development, and one is merged to master, should other features grab the changes from master branch first before these features can be tested and signed off? As otherwise you could end up with coding conflicts if some common projects were modified the same time.

Answer 1

Git workflow can explained with help of below 3 type of branches.

1. Master — Master branch should have production code only.
2. Development - This branch will behave like a Staging area where all the features that are been worked on within the team would get merged eventually. Engineers will push to this branch frequently once they finish working on their feature.
3. Feature/<feature-name> - These branches represent all the new requirements that Engineers would be working on day-to-day.

That said, below is how the journey would look like from developing a feature to getting it released .

1. Create a feature/<feature-name> branch off of development .
2. Work on your feature, add and commit files to this feature branch.
3. This feature branch can then be tested by the QA's for Integration and Regerssion testing . ( This is where the QA can give you the Sign-off).
4. Now the feature branch is ready to be merged back to development.
5. Additionally here , once you merge your feature branch to development , you could run a Automation suite of Regression Tests on development just to be extra sure nothing is broken.
6. Once enough feature branches are merged to development ,you can prepeare for the release and get it tested and pushed to Produciton
7. Finally merge the development/release branch back to master.