Viewing github.com/django/django-stable-4.1.x/docs/internals/git.txt

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The Django source code repository
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When deploying a Django application into a real production environment, you

will almost always want to use `an official packaged release of Django`_.

However, if you'd like to try out in-development code from an upcoming release

or contribute to the development of Django, you'll need to obtain a clone of

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Django's source code repository.
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This document covers the way the code repository is laid out and how to work

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with and find things in it.
```

.. _an official packaged release of Django: https://www.djangoproject.com/download/

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High-level overview
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===================
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The Django source code repository uses `Git`_ to track changes to the code

over time, so you'll need a copy of the Git client (a program called ``git``)

on your computer, and you'll want to familiarize yourself with the basics of

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how Git works.
```

Git's website offers downloads for various operating systems. The site also

contains vast amounts of `documentation`_.

The Django Git repository is located online at `github.com/django/django

<https://github.com/django/django>`_. It contains the full source code for all

Django releases, which you can browse online.

The Git repository includes several `branches`_:

* ``main`` contains the main in-development code which will become

  the next packaged release of Django. This is where most development

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  activity is focused.
```

* ``stable/A.B.x`` are the branches where release preparation work happens.

  They are also used for bugfix and security releases which occur as necessary

  after the initial release of a feature version.

The Git repository also contains `tags`_. These are the exact revisions from

which packaged Django releases were produced, since version 1.0.

A number of tags also exist under the ``archive/`` prefix for :ref:`archived

work<archived-feature-development-work>`.

The source code for the `Djangoproject.com <https://www.djangoproject.com/>`_

website can be found at `github.com/django/djangoproject.com

<https://github.com/django/djangoproject.com>`_.

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.. _Git: https://git-scm.com/
```

.. _documentation: https://git-scm.com/doc

.. _branches: https://github.com/django/django/branches

.. _tags: https://github.com/django/django/tags

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The main branch
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===============
```

If you'd like to try out the in-development code for the next release of

Django, or if you'd like to contribute to Django by fixing bugs or developing

new features, you'll want to get the code from the main branch.

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.. note::
```

   Prior to March 2021, the main branch was called ``master``.

Note that this will get *all* of Django: in addition to the top-level

``django`` module containing Python code, you'll also get a copy of Django's

documentation, test suite, packaging scripts and other miscellaneous bits.

Django's code will be present in your clone as a directory named

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``django``.
```

To try out the in-development code with your own applications, place the

directory containing your clone on your Python import path. Then ``import``

statements which look for Django will find the ``django`` module within your

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clone.
```

If you're going to be working on Django's code (say, to fix a bug or

develop a new feature), you can probably stop reading here and move

over to :doc:`the documentation for contributing to Django

</internals/contributing/index>`, which covers things like the preferred

coding style and how to generate and submit a patch.

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Stable branches
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===============
```

Django uses branches to prepare for releases of Django. Each major release

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series has its own stable branch.
```

These branches can be found in the repository as ``stable/A.B.x``

branches and will be created right after the first alpha is tagged.

For example, immediately after *Django 1.5 alpha 1* was tagged, the branch

``stable/1.5.x`` was created and all further work on preparing the code for the

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final 1.5 release was done there.
```

These branches also provide bugfix and security support as described in

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:ref:`supported-versions-policy`.
```

For example, after the release of Django 1.5, the branch ``stable/1.5.x``

receives only fixes for security and critical stability bugs, which are

eventually released as Django 1.5.1 and so on, ``stable/1.4.x`` receives only

security and data loss fixes, and ``stable/1.3.x`` no longer receives any

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updates.
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.. admonition:: Historical information
```

    This policy for handling ``stable/A.B.x`` branches was adopted starting

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    with the Django 1.5 release cycle.
```

    Previously, these branches weren't created until right after the releases

    and the stabilization work occurred on the main repository branch. Thus,

    no new feature development work for the next release of Django could be

    committed until the final release happened.

    For example, shortly after the release of Django 1.3 the branch

    ``stable/1.3.x`` was created. Official support for that release has expired,

    and so it no longer receives direct maintenance from the Django project.

    However, that and all other similarly named branches continue to exist, and

    interested community members have occasionally used them to provide

    unofficial support for old Django releases.

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Tags
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====
```

Each Django release is tagged and signed by the releaser.

The tags can be found on GitHub's `tags`_ page.

.. _tags: https://github.com/django/django/tags

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.. _archived-feature-development-work:
```
```
Archived feature-development work
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```
---------------------------------
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.. admonition:: Historical information
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    Since Django moved to Git in 2012, anyone can clone the repository and

    create their own branches, alleviating the need for official branches in

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    the source code repository.
```

    The following section is mostly useful if you're exploring the repository's

    history, for example if you're trying to understand how some features were

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    designed.
```

Feature-development branches tend by their nature to be temporary. Some

produce successful features which are merged back into Django's main branch to

become part of an official release, but others do not; in either case, there

comes a time when the branch is no longer being actively worked on by any

developer. At this point the branch is considered closed.

Django used to be maintained with the Subversion revision control system, that

has no standard way of indicating this. As a workaround, branches of Django

which are closed and no longer maintained were moved into ``attic``.

A number of tags exist under the ``archive/`` prefix to maintain a reference to

this and other work of historical interest.

The following tags under the ``archive/attic/`` prefix reference the tip of

branches whose code eventually became part of Django itself:

* ``boulder-oracle-sprint``: Added support for Oracle databases to

  Django's object-relational mapper. This has been part of Django

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  since the 1.0 release.
```

* ``gis``: Added support for geographic/spatial queries to Django's

  object-relational mapper. This has been part of Django since the 1.0

  release, as the bundled application ``django.contrib.gis``.

* ``i18n``: Added :doc:`internationalization support </topics/i18n/index>` to

  Django. This has been part of Django since the 0.90 release.

* ``magic-removal``: A major refactoring of both the internals and

  public APIs of Django's object-relational mapper. This has been part

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  of Django since the 0.95 release.
```

* ``multi-auth``: A refactoring of :doc:`Django's bundled

  authentication framework </topics/auth/index>` which added support for

  :ref:`authentication backends <authentication-backends>`. This has

  been part of Django since the 0.95 release.

* ``new-admin``: A refactoring of :doc:`Django's bundled

  administrative application </ref/contrib/admin/index>`. This became part of

  Django as of the 0.91 release, but was superseded by another

  refactoring (see next listing) prior to the Django 1.0 release.

* ``newforms-admin``: The second refactoring of Django's bundled

  administrative application. This became part of Django as of the 1.0

  release, and is the basis of the current incarnation of

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  ``django.contrib.admin``.
```

* ``queryset-refactor``: A refactoring of the internals of Django's

  object-relational mapper. This became part of Django as of the 1.0

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  release.
```

* ``unicode``: A refactoring of Django's internals to consistently use

  Unicode-based strings in most places within Django and Django

  applications. This became part of Django as of the 1.0 release.

Additionally, the following tags under the ``archive/attic/`` prefix reference

the tips of branches that were closed, but whose code was never merged into

Django, and the features they aimed to implement were never finished:

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* ``full-history``
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```
* ``generic-auth``
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```
* ``multiple-db-support``
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```
* ``per-object-permissions``
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```
* ``schema-evolution``
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```
* ``schema-evolution-ng``
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```
* ``search-api``
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```
* ``sqlalchemy``
```

Finally, under the ``archive/`` prefix, the repository contains

``soc20XX/<project>`` tags referencing the tip of branches that were used by

students who worked on Django during the 2009 and 2010 Google Summer of Code

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programs.
```