Git Question: What to do when multiple people working on a project?

Question

I made a project and put it on github, it's basically a small powershell function that is pretty useful in some situations. I've since made some improvements to it to add functionality...but someone else liked it as well and made his own 'dev' branch to it.

I don't want to be a jerk and ignore his changes, but I also like the code that I made and my new changes are pretty great for what people will be doing with this tool. What would be considered the best practice in a situation like this? Should I rename my changes as Scriptv2.ps1? Should I just push my new changes in a commit and let the other party make his tweaks again?

What's considered polite in a situation like this one?

• user40980: Are your changes incompatible with the other developers? Is the license on the project (and the commits made by the other developer's) such that you can merge his or her changes back into your mainline?

Answer 1

Collaboration is the reason why git is powerful! Go ahead and make your changes in a new commit. The other developer will be able to then merge your changes back into his branch and continue working on whatever extensions or changes he wants. Any merge conflicts that arise are something that he is responsible for; not you.

• Brandt Solovij: I would add as well - open a dialogue with the other developer as well if you like what they have done / where they have taken it, and if that code is functional but not pretty - rework it into a future commit and give them credit for the inspiration and thought behind it - reference their original commit if you feel extra diplomatic