Allow installing GDK with a specific GitLab branch

Summary

Add a gitlab_branch parameter to the gdk install command that allows specifying a GitLab branch to checkout during installation.

Usage

gdk install gitlab_branch=my-feature-branch

Or via gdk.yml:

gitlab:
  clone_branch: my-feature-branch

Why

When setting up GDK for development on a specific feature branch, the current workflow is:

  1. gdk install (clones and sets up master)
  2. gdk switch my-branch (switches branch, re-runs migrations, etc.)

This is inefficient because:

  • Migrations run twice (once for master, once for the branch)
  • Extra time spent on setup steps that need to be redone

With this change, the GitLab repository will be cloned and immediately checked out to the specified branch before any setup steps run.

Implementation

  • Add gitlab.clone_branch config setting (empty by default, meaning master)
  • Add gitlab_branch parameter parsing in lib/gdk/command/install.rb
  • Translate gitlab_branch=X to gitlab_clone_branch=X for Make
  • Update Makefile.gitlab.mk to use GIT_REVISION when cloning
  • Add documentation differentiating from gitlab.default_branch (which is used by gdk update and gdk switch)

Related