For example, Gitlab indicates that the develop branch is behind master:

Example 1

[![enter image description here][1]][1]

Example 2

[![enter image description here][2]][2]

One could make a merge request from master to develop, but as there are no code changes it seems impossible to align these branches.

The current approach is to remove the develop branch once in a while and to create it again in order to get `0 | 0` again.


The `1|0` means that this branch is 1 behind the master branch, `5|0` means 5 commits behind the master branch and `2|3` means two behind master branch and 3 ahead.

**Branching strategy**

 1. The develop is branched from the master, i.e. `0|0`
 2. A feature branch is created from the develop
 3. When the feature is ready the code from the feature branch will be merged into the develop
 4. A release branch is created from the develop branch
 5. The release branch will be merged into master

  [1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/vGAjY.png
  [2]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/2w8m7.png