Cherry picking in Azure DevOps (or any version control system) refers to the process of selecting and applying specific changes (usually code commits) from one branch to another. This is often used when you want to transfer specific changes or fixes from one branch to another, typically from a feature branch to a main or release branch. Here’s how you can perform cherry picking in Azure DevOps:

Prerequisites:

• Ensure you have the necessary permissions to push changes to the target branch.
• Make sure you have a clear understanding of which commits you want to cherry pick.

Steps to Cherry Pick in Azure DevOps:

1. Clone the Repository:

   • If you haven’t already, clone the repository to your local machine using Git.
   bashCopy code

   git clone <repository_url>

2. Checkout the Target Branch:

   • Switch to the branch where you want to apply the cherry-picked changes. For example, if you want to apply changes to the “main” branch:
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   git checkout main

3. Cherry Pick:

   • Use the git cherry-pick command followed by the commit hash of the change you want to apply. You can specify multiple commit hashes if you want to cherry-pick multiple changes.
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   git cherry-pick <commit_hash>

   Example:

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   git cherry-pick abc123

4. Resolve Conflicts:

   • If there are any conflicts between the changes you’re cherry-picking and the current state of the branch, Git will pause the cherry-pick process to allow you to resolve the conflicts. You’ll need to manually edit the conflicted files and then continue the cherry-pick using:
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   git cherry-pick --continue

   or

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   git cherry-pick --abort

   if you want to cancel the cherry-pick.

5. Push the Changes:

   • Once you’ve successfully cherry-picked the desired changes and resolved any conflicts, you can push the changes to the target branch:
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   git push origin main

   Replace “main” with the name of your target branch.

6. Cleanup:

   • After the cherry pick is complete, you can delete the feature branch from which you cherry-picked the changes (if it’s no longer needed).

That’s it! You have successfully cherry-picked specific changes from one branch to another in Azure DevOps using Git. This allows you to selectively apply changes without merging the entire source branch into the target branch, which can be especially useful for managing bug fixes or specific features in your codebase.