Branch publish

Learn to publish from a specific branch.

Publishing with a branch

GitHub Pages publishes the files of your site from a specific branch. By convention the branch named gh-pages is used for this job. You open the publish branch and add the site files there.

git checkout -b gh-pages

The branch being published contains the source files of the site.

The publish branch

The publish branch is where the site files live. It contains files like index.html, and each commit updates the site. The publish branch follows its own line, separate from the development branch.

git checkout -q -b gh-pages
echo "yayin" > index.html
git add index.html
git commit -q -m "site"

Exercise Prepare the publish branch

Create temel.txt and save it quietly. Open a branch named gh-pages; there create index.html with site hazir inside, add it and save quietly. Print the file contents at the end.

Show example solution

git init -q
echo "temel" > temel.txt
git add temel.txt
git commit -q -m "temel"
git checkout -q -b gh-pages
echo "site hazir" > index.html
git add index.html
git commit -q -m "yayin"
cat index.html

Test yourself

What is the gh-pages branch used for?
- It is a backup branch
- It is the name of the development branch
- The branch where the site files are published
- It is used to store temporary files
Show answer

The branch where the site files are published — The gh-pages branch is where site files are published; the files on this branch are served on the web.

Open the publish branch

git checkout -q -b ____

Show answer

git checkout -q -b gh-pages

Publish branch

gh-pages

Branch reserved for publishing
publish

The act of going live
site_files

Files included in publishing
main

Name of the development branch

Next lesson: Custom domain

We Are Enhancing Your Experience

Cookie Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Analytical Cookies