Branch/release strategy for multiple copies of similar code

christok

I'm trying to put together a branching and deployment management strategy for managing a large number > 100 small applications that share a similar codebase.

The general situation is that we have a single template application that we customize and deploy for each of our customers. The development workflow is: 1) clone the template as new instance of code, 2) make the changes, 3) deploy instance to a subfolder on a web server.

I'd like to configure a workflow in Bitbucket and Bamboo to streamline our process. An ideal scenario would involve creating a branch (or better yet a fork) in Git, which would then trigger Bamboo to create a build/deploy plan for that particular instance of the template. We can sort of do this out of the box by treating each instance as a branch of the master template, and then creating feature branches off that, but I can't see a way to customize the workflow enough so as to enforce a naming convention when any of those sub-branches is then branched again - for instance for a feature or bug fix.

Any thoughts are appreciated on how to customize this complex workflow.

Daniel Santos_157bm4

Hi @christok

With the constraints you shared, the only way I could imagine this environment working  is by configuring something like:

1. Create a Bamboo linked repository for each of your apps.
   The linked repository would use the same source repository, but it would point to a different branch. The branch configured should be the main branch for that app.
2. Create on plan for each of the linked repositories.
   Each plan will have a different default branch which will be dictated by the linked repository. Any new branch linked to the plan will need to be added manually as you can see in the step below.
3. Disable plan branch management (Plan configuration >> Branches >> Create plan branch >> Manually).
   In this scenario, Bamboo will not automatically create plan branches but the developer should do it manually when a new branch of your app is created. The developer will know the right plan where that branch needs to be created so no name convention is needed.

I think the configuration above will allow you to have a different plan for each app. With that, you should be able to create any deployment projects you want pointing to each of your plans.

The only thing you will lose here is the ability to auto-create your Bamboo plan branches when a new source branch is created.

In this configuration, you will also be able to build the same branch in multiple plans in case you need it.