Merging a Pull Request

The process for merging in github pull requests (so that they can be tested locally before committing) has been scripted in the github-pr.sh script.

Alternatively, if you are confident using git from within your IDE, consider the specific IDE setup guides Eclipse and IntelliJ.

The script will merge the fork into a temporary branch, and then run a build. Once you are happy, you can commit.

Process and Usage

The overall process is as follows:

  • locate/raise corresponding JIRA ticket, eg CAUSEWAY-1162

  • checkout branch from which PR was forked (usually just 'master')

  • merge PR into temporary branch using the github-pr.sh script

  • test the change locally (run the app, rebuild, manual regression tests etc)

  • if required, tidy up/refactor code as required

  • merge temporary branch into mainline, and commit

This screencast also shows the process.

Prerequisites

The script uses 'jq' to parse JSON. To install:

  • on Linux:

    aptitude install jq

  • on MacOS:

    brew install jq

  • on Windows:

    Download exe from website

Syntax

The syntax is:

github-pr.sh -j 1162 -g 31 [-s] [-p CAUSEWAY]

where:

  • -j 1162

    is the JIRA ticket number

  • -g 31

    is the github PR issue number

  • -s

    will optionally skip the build and auto-merge

  • -p CAUSEWAY

    optionally overrids the JIRA project (defaults to 'CAUSEWAY')

Example transcript

The listing below shows the steps taken by the script:

$ sh github-pr.sh causeway 1162 31

Found JIRA ticket
Found github PR
branch_name_local: master
username         : sebadiaz
repo_full_name   : sebadiaz/causeway
repo_clone_url   : https://github.com/sebadiaz/causeway.git
branch_name_fork : master

merging into: CAUSEWAY-1162_pr-31

Deleting branch 'CAUSEWAY-1162_pr-31'
Deleted branch CAUSEWAY-1162_pr-31 (was bd2e3c2).
Creating the branch CAUSEWAY-1162_pr-31
Switched to a new branch 'CAUSEWAY-1162_pr-31'
Pulling the changes from https://github.com/sebadiaz/causeway.git master
From https://github.com/sebadiaz/causeway
 * branch            master     -> FETCH_HEAD
Auto-merging core/pom.xml
Merge made by the 'recursive' strategy.
 core/pom.xml                                       |   3 +-
 .../apache/causeway/security/shiro/CausewayLdapRealm.java  | 198 +++++++++++++++++++--
 2 files changed, 186 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)

Merged the PR; hit enter to build

The build now commences. Once done, the script continues:

If build successful and happy to merge, execute:

git checkout master && git merge --no-ff CAUSEWAY-1162_pr-31 && git branch -d CAUSEWAY-1162_pr-31

The screenshot belows shows the history we end up with:

github pr history

This shows the fork being merged into the temporary branch ("CAUSEWAY-1162_pr-31"), then some further tidy-up, and finally the merging of the temporary branch into mainline.

Note that there is no rebasing in this model. This is intentional: when the merged branch is pushed, github will automatically close the original pull request.