🚀 Day 4: Mastering GitHub – Fork, Pull Request, Webhook, and Collaboration

Series: 30 Days DevOps Interview Preparation
Author: Tathagat Gaikwad

Welcome to Day 4 of the 30 Days DevOps Interview Preparation Challenge. Today, we dive into the real-world collaboration tools that make GitHub more than just a code-hosting platform.

Whether you’re working on an open-source project or collaborating in a company-wide DevOps workflow — GitHub is your battlefield. Understanding forks, pull requests, webhooks, and collaboration tools is essential for any DevOps engineer.

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🍴 Fork – Your Own Playground

Definition:
A fork is a copy of someone else’s repository into your own GitHub account. This allows you to modify the project freely without impacting the original codebase.

Use Cases:

• Contributing to open-source projects.

• Experimenting with changes safely.

• Creating your own version of a public tool.

Workflow:

1. Click on “Fork” in the top-right corner of a GitHub repo.

2. The repo is copied into your account.

3. You can now clone, branch, and push changes as you like.

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🔄 Pull Request (PR) – Proposing Changes

Definition:
A Pull Request (PR) is a method to propose code changes from one branch (or fork) to another. It’s the foundation of collaborative development.

Why PRs matter:

• Enable code review and discussions

• Support automated CI/CD pipelines

• Help maintain code quality and security

Typical PR Workflow:

# After forking and cloning
git checkout -b feature/new-login
# Make changes
git add .
git commit -m "feat: add login page"
git push origin feature/new-login
# Go to GitHub and open a PR to the main repo

Inside a Pull Request:

• Title + description of the change

• Comparison between branches

• Reviewers and approvals

• Labels (e.g., bug, enhancement)

• Checks (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, etc.)

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🌐 Webhooks – Real-time Integrations

Definition:
A webhook is an HTTP callback triggered by an event in a repository (e.g., push, pull request, issue comment). It sends a payload to a specified URL.

Why Use Webhooks?

• Automate CI/CD pipelines (e.g., trigger Jenkins build)

• Send alerts to Slack/Discord

• Notify 3rd-party systems when your repo changes

Setup Steps:

1. Go to your GitHub repo > Settings > Webhooks

2. Click “Add webhook”

3. Provide the Payload URL (e.g., Jenkins endpoint or Slack webhook)

4. Choose content type: application/json

5. Select events (push, PR, etc.)

Example:

A push to the main branch triggers a webhook to your Jenkins server, which pulls the code and starts a deployment pipeline.

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🤝 GitHub Collaboration – Teamwork at Scale

GitHub provides powerful tools to enable seamless team collaboration:

DevOps Tip:
Use GitHub as your single source of truth and enable:

• ✅ Protected branches with status checks

• ✅ Mandatory reviews

• ✅ Automated tests via GitHub Actions

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🎯 DevOps Interview Questions & Answers

Q1. What's the difference between a fork and a clone?

Answer:

• Fork: A GitHub-level copy of a repository into your own account.

• Clone: A local copy of any repo (original or forked) on your machine.

A fork is about GitHub collaboration, a clone is about local development.

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Q2. What happens during a Pull Request?

Answer:

• You propose changes from one branch/fork to another.

• GitHub compares the two branches and highlights changes.

• Reviewers give feedback, request changes, or approve.

• Once approved, it's merged into the base branch.

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Q3. What is a webhook and how is it used in DevOps?

Answer:

• A webhook is a listener that reacts to repo events.

• In DevOps, it’s often used to trigger builds/deployments.

Example:
Push to main ➜ webhook triggers Jenkins ➜ deploys to staging.

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Q4. How do you manage collaboration on GitHub?

Answer:

• Use issues for task management.

• Use branches and pull requests to control code flow.

• Enforce reviews and CI before merges.

• Use labels, milestones, and protected branches.

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🧪 Hands-On Tasks

✅ Fork a repo and clone it locally
✅ Make a change, push, and open a pull request
✅ Simulate a review/approval process
✅ Add a webhook to your repo (Slack or Jenkins)
✅ Enable branch protection rules
✅ Collaborate with a friend on a single repo

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📌 Key Takeaways

• Fork enables safe experimentation.

• PRs bring visibility, review, and control to changes.

• Webhooks integrate GitHub into your automation pipeline.

• Collaboration tools help teams move fast, but with stability.

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🔗 Resources

• GitHub Docs: https://docs.github.com

• Webhook Examples: https://webhook.site

• GitHub Actions CI/CD: https://docs.github.com/en/actions

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