What does "Initialising repository for git-flow" is SourceTree do?

[Konstantin]

When I press "Git Flow" button for the first time SourceTree is asking me to initialise repository for git-flow.

I am trying to understand two things:

1. Why uncommited changes are preventing SourceTree from initialising repo for Git Flow?
2. Why other users have to initialise repository for Git Flow again when they clone it?

So what is exactly happening when I initialising repository for git-flow?

[Seth]

Gitflow is a local utility that provides shortcuts for common operations associated with one common git workflow (named "git-flow").

Before you can use gitflow, you need to "initialize" it, which basically requires you to configure the plugin. As far as I remember, the only thing you need to specify is what you want to use as the prefix for each of the types of branches gitflow supports.

Many gitflow operations involve switching branches, and git won't typically let you switch branches if you have uncommitted changes (there are some exceptions), so that is probably why gitflow won't let you init while you have uncommitted changes.

[Konstantin]

My point is if initialising SourceTree's GitFlow has nothing to do with repository it should not care about the state of my working copy.

I was wondering if it does something else other than setting up branch prefixes.

[Seth]

For that you'd have to ask the developer of gitflow, which isn't SourceTree/Atlassian. http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/ https://github.com/nvie/gitflow