I have 5 different websites that use exactly the same code, apart from they have an uploads folder with different contents (AKA images that aren't consistent through every site) and also a config file which has a few settings like whether this is a production environment, which database to use etc.
My problem is I have 5 different versions of the back-end system that should be the same for every site.
So, cue Git. I've just started learning and now understand the basics and need to choose a workflow for my development environment. This workflow will ideally allow me to swiftly switch between one website to another (with the same back-end, different images/config file).
My thoughts on how to achieve this
My idea is to have a branch for each of the different websites. On the master branch is where the back-end code will sit and will have all commits related to the back-end code. Then, create 5 other branches which contain the unique uploads' folders and the config file for each site. Then, when I want to view a different site I just git branch site3
and all the uploads load and the correct database is selected etc.
Does this sound like the right sort of approach? I'm looking for a reliable development workflow that I can use to scale up to 50 sites that I can maintain with ease. The idea is to have all the sites feed from the same back-end, but still be visually different when I switch to the relevant site branch (so I have an accurate representation of each website).