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Software Engineering vocabulary · Version Control

Fork

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/fɔːrk/verbCommon term

In software engineering, fork means: To make your own copy of someone else's repository on a platform such as GitHub, so you can change it freely and later propose your changes back.

In Turkish: çatallamak, fork'lamak, projenin kopyasını oluşturmak

How it is used

The normal way to contribute to open source: fork the repo, push to your fork, then open a pull request to the original ('upstream') project. As a noun, 'a fork' is the copy itself. A fork can also become a separate project when a community splits.

Example sentences

  1. Fork the repository, make your fix and open a pull request to the main project.

  2. We maintain our own fork of the library with a patch the original authors rejected.

Common collocations

  • fork a repository
  • maintain a fork
  • push to your fork
  • sync your fork
  • repositoryA storage place for a project's code and its full history of changes, usually managed with Git and often hosted online.
  • cloneTo download a full copy of a remote repository, including its history, to your own computer so that you can work on it.
  • open sourceDescribes software whose source code is public, so anyone can read, use, change and share it under the terms of its license.
  • pull requestA request to merge your code changes from one branch into another, so that teammates can review and discuss them first.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Version Control

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