Features should be developed on feature branches, then merged into master (using --no-ff).
This can be done locally, then the branch can be deleted.
If the feature branch is pushed to the public repository then it should not be deleted unless no-one else it using it.
One reason for sharing (large) feature branches is to use GitHub as a backup in the cloud.
In order to set as default that git should no-fastforward local merges, but still fast forward pulls, follow the following steps (in the git BASH if using windows)
First change directory to somewhere in your local renispace git repository. E.g. if using windows then type the following
cd c/path/to/your/local/renispace/repository
filling in path/to/your/local/renispace/repository with the path to your copy of the repo (forward slashes! and note C drive is mounted at /c)
Then run the following two commands:
git config merge.ff false
git config pull.ff only
This will add configurations to your .git/config file, which is repository specific.
NB Typo originally said git config pull.ff pull, note now it says only.
I changed it to only from true as an experiment, since git otherwise wanted me to commit after a fastforward pull.
We shall see how it works out...
(If you find yourself in a situation where git won't pull because it can't fastforward, try rebasing your changes onto the remote branch. If this is going to be too difficult, do a no-fastforward merge, and add a meaningful description, that you are merging two versions of the same branch!)
See the GitHub Markdown Basics page for an introduction on how to format this README file.