need advice on usage patterns

Hi,

I'm after advice on usage patterns.

We are looking to use git to manage our release+patching process. We release our software as a couple of directories (bin+tables). Mostly we then send updates to single customers without always testing that the update will work for all customers. Other updates apply to everybody.

Our thought is to have a "central" repository with the well tested programs and branches for each customer for versions that should not be sent to everybody. The developers work on their own local repositories and push branches to the central one for final testing prior to distribution. The most common usage would be to rebase the branches on the latest master. A developer should be able to just "git pull" and get updates to branches for all customers.

There are notes on the "git pull" man page about not working on a remote branch but having a local branch with a different name and merging the remote branch. Why is this necessary?

Does anyone have comments or advice on alternative ways to manage this? The remote branch commands seem rather complex, has anybody written scripts to simplify the process of interacting with remote branches?

Cheers and thanks,

Geoff Russell