Git - How to prevent a branch to be pushed

Written by Solène, on 08 September 2022.
Tags: #git #versioning #unix

1. Introduction
2. Hooks

1. Introduction §

I was looking for a simple way to prevent pushing a specific git branch. A few searches on the Internet didn't give me good results, so let me share a solution.

2. Hooks §

Hooks are scripts run by git at a specific time, you have the "pre-" hooks before an action, and "post-" hooks after an action.

We need to edit the hook "pre-push" that happens at push time, before the real push action taking place.

Edit or create the file .git/hooks/pre-push:

#!/bin/sh

branch="$(git branch --show-current)"

if [ "${branch}" = "private" ]
then
    echo "Pushing to the branch ${branch} is forbidden"
    exit 1
fi

Mark the file as executable, otherwise it won't work.

In this example, if you run "git push" while on the branch "private", the process will be aborted.

Table of contents

1. Introduction §

2. Hooks §