How to draw branching schema diagrams in graphviz

Question

Any hints how to draw branching schema in spirit of attached image is welcomed. Note that I would like to do it in graphviz for fast editing and future changes.

Answer 1

This particular diagram was made with inkscape, therefore it will be difficult to match it with graphviz's output.

Here's how you may match some of it with graphviz:

• Use a different group attribute for each branch in order to get straight lines for each branch (here's another example of using group, and one using weight)
• Define the branches in the right order to have them appear from top to bottom
• Use shape, style, width and height have some nodes stand out, and hide others
• Use some \n newline cheating to have labels on top of the nodes (you may also try labelloc="t", or using xlabel instead of label)

digraph g{
    rankdir="LR";
    pad=0.5;
    nodesep=0.6;
    ranksep=0.5;
    forcelabels=true;

    node [width=0.12, height=0.12, fixedsize=true,
        shape=circle, style=filled, color="#909090",
        fontcolor="deepskyblue", font="Arial bold", fontsize="14pt" ];
    edge [arrowhead=none, color="#909090", penwidth=3];

    node  [group="release3"];
    s3    [label="release 3\n\n", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=box];
    r30   [label="    R3.0\n\n\n"];
    e3    [label="", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=box];
    e3f   [label="", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=circle, color="#b0b0b0"];
    s3 -> r30 -> e3;
    e3 -> e3f [color="#b0b0b0", style=dashed];

    node  [group="release2"];
    s2    [label="release 2\n\n", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=box];
    b2    [label="", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=box];
    r20   [label="    R2.0\n\n\n"];
    e2    [label="", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=box];
    e2f   [label="", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=circle, color="#b0b0b0"];
    s2 -> b2 -> r20 -> e2;
    e2 -> e2f [color="#b0b0b0", style=dashed];

    node  [group="release1"];
    s1    [label="release 1\n\n", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=box];
    ttest [label="    test\n\n\n"];
    b1    [label="", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=box];
    r10   [label="    R1.0\n\n\n"];
    r11   [label="    R1.1\n\n\n"];
    e1    [label="", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=box];
    e1f   [label="", width=0.03, height=0.03, shape=circle, color="#b0b0b0"];
    s1 -> ttest -> b1 -> r10 -> r11 -> e1;
    e1 -> e1f [color="#b0b0b0", style=dashed];

    b1 -> s2;
    b2 -> s3;

}

Answer 2

I made an attempt to imitate the famous git branching strategy from http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/ using GraphViz.

This is the original picture:

And this is the result:

The code:

strict digraph g{
rankdir="TB";
nodesep=0.5;
ranksep=0.25;
splines=line;
forcelabels=false;

// general
node [style=filled, color="black", 
    fontcolor="black", font="Consolas", fontsize="8pt" ];
edge [arrowhead=vee, color="black", penwidth=2];

// branch names
node [fixedsize=false, penwidth=0, fillcolor=none, shape=none, width=0, height=0, margin="0.05"];
subgraph {
    rank=sink;
    me [label="master", group="master"];
}
subgraph {
    rank=sink;
    de [label="develop", group="develop"];
}

// tags
node [shape=cds, fixedsize=false, fillcolor="#C6C6C6", penwidth=1, margin="0.11,0.055"]
t1 [label="0.1"]
t2 [label="0.2"]
t3 [label="1.0"]

// graph
node [width=0.2, height=0.2, fixedsize=true, label="", margin="0.11,0.055", shape=circle, penwidth=2, fillcolor="#FF0000"]

// branches
node  [group="master", fillcolor="#27E4F9"];
m1;
m2;
m3;
m4;
subgraph {
    rank=source;
    ms [label="", width=0, height=0, penwidth=0];
}
m1 -> m2 -> m3 -> m4;
ms -> m1 [color="#b0b0b0", style=dashed, arrowhead=none ];
m4 -> me [color="#b0b0b0", style=dashed, arrowhead=none ];

node  [group="hotfixes", fillcolor="#FD5965"];
h1;

node  [group="release", fillcolor="#52C322"];
r1;
r2;
r3;
r4;
r5;
r1 -> r2 -> r3 -> r4;

node  [group="develop", fillcolor="#FFE333"];
d1;
d2;
d3;
d4;
d5;
d6;
d7;
d8;
d9;
d10;
d1 -> d2 -> d3 -> d4 -> d5 -> d6 -> d7 -> d8 -> d9 -> d10;
d10 -> de [color="#b0b0b0", style=dashed, arrowhead=none ];

node  [group="feature 1", fillcolor="#FB3DB5"];
fa1;
fa2;
fa3;
fa4;
fa5;
fa6;
subgraph fas1 {
    fa1 -> fa2 -> fa3;
}
subgraph fas2 {
    fa4 -> fa5 -> fa6;
}

node  [group="feature 2", fillcolor="#FB3DB5"];
fb1;
fb2;
fb3;
fb4;
subgraph{ rank=same; fa6; fb4; } // hack
subgraph{ rank=same; fa1; fb1; } // hack
fb1 -> fb2 -> fb3 -> fb4;

// nodes
m1 -> d1;
m1 -> h1;
h1 -> m2;
h1 -> d5;
d3 -> fa1;
fa3 -> d6;
d6 -> r1;
r2 -> d7;
r4 -> d8;
r4 -> m3;
d9 -> r5;
r5 -> m4;
r5 -> d10;

d7 -> fa4;
fa6 -> d9;

d3 -> fb1;
fb4 -> d9;

// tags connections
edge [color="#b0b0b0", style=dotted, len=0.3, arrowhead=none, penwidth=1];
subgraph  {
    rank="same";
    m1 -> t1;
}
subgraph  {
    rank="same";
    m2 -> t2 ;
}
subgraph  {
    rank="same";
    m3 -> t3;
}
}

Hope this helps someone.