Knowledge Builders

how do you write a pull request

by Dr. Oswald McCullough Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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Offering feedback
  1. Familiarize yourself with the context of the issue, and reasons why this Pull Request exists.
  2. If you disagree strongly, consider giving it a few minutes before responding; think before you react.
  3. Ask, don't tell. ...
  4. Explain your reasons why code should be changed. ...
  5. Offer ways to simplify or improve code.
Jan 21, 2015

What does "self tested" mean in pull request?

How many PRs can a deployer merge?

What is a PR description?

Why should you include this section in a deployment?

When someone comes back and sees why such a change was suggested, the relevant documents section will take them to the?

Is it important to release a feature in a certain order on GitHub?

Do you need all sections of a PR?

See 4 more

About this website

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How do you write a good pull request?

RecapPull request size. It should be small. ... Feature breaking. Whenever possible, break pull-requests into smaller ones.Single Responsibility Principle. The pull request should do only one thing.Title. Make a self-explanatory title describing what the pull request does.Description.

How do you do a pull request?

TLDRFind a project you want to contribute to.Fork it.Clone it to your local system.Make a new branch.Make your changes.Push it back to your repo.Click the Compare & pull request button.Click Create pull request to open a new pull request.

What should a pull request include?

Your PR Description Matters. Use your PR description as an opportunity to set the reviewer up for a review they will want to do, a review they will know how to review. Here you'll get to explain what you've done, why you've done it, and how to prove it is ready to be merged into the main trunk.

How do I create a Git pull request?

Let's make our first pull request!Fork the repository. Fork the repository by clicking the fork button on the top of the page. ... Clone the repository. ... Create a branch. ... Make changes and commit them. ... Push changes to GitHub. ... Create pull request. ... Sync your forked master branch. ... Delete the unnecessary branch.

What is the purpose of a pull request?

Pull requests let you tell others about changes you've pushed to a branch in a repository on GitHub. Once a pull request is opened, you can discuss and review the potential changes with collaborators and add follow-up commits before your changes are merged into the base branch.

Why is it called a pull request?

Pull requests are a GitHub and Bitbucket-specific feature that offers an easy, web-based way to submit your work, alternately called “patches,” to the project. The name “pull request” comes from the idea that you're requesting the project to “pull” changes from your fork.

What is a pull request template?

What is a Pull Request template? A pull request template is a file containing markdown text that is added to your pull request description when the pull request is created. Essentially, the template is a bunch of text that developers don't want to write each time they submit code.

When should I create a pull request?

When you're ready to start a discussion about your code changes, it's time to create a pull request. Before creating a pull request, you might want to compare your code changes to the destination repository.

How long should a pull request take?

Usually a PR should take < 8hrs (depending on your familiarity with the codebase). Use commits. If your PR feels a little big, split the changes into logical groups using git commits.

What is git pull request command?

The Git pull command is used to fetch and merge code changes from the remote repository to the local repository. Git pull is a combination of two commands, Git fetch followed by Git merge.

What is the command for git pull?

The git pull command is actually a combination of two other commands, git fetch followed by git merge . In the first stage of operation git pull will execute a git fetch scoped to the local branch that HEAD is pointed at. Once the content is downloaded, git pull will enter a merge workflow.

What is a pull request vs push?

A "pull request" is you requesting the target repository to please grab your changes. A "push request" would be the target repository requesting you to push your changes.

What is git pull request command?

The Git pull command is used to fetch and merge code changes from the remote repository to the local repository. Git pull is a combination of two commands, Git fetch followed by Git merge.

How do I create a pull request Vscode?

VS Code allows you to do Pull Requests directly from the editor. To do that you need to be on the GitHub Pull Request page. Click on the create new pull request button. Then choose a target branch to which you want to pull, and from which you want to pull.

What is the command for git pull?

The git pull command is actually a combination of two other commands, git fetch followed by git merge . In the first stage of operation git pull will execute a git fetch scoped to the local branch that HEAD is pointed at. Once the content is downloaded, git pull will enter a merge workflow.

How do you handle pull requests?

Best practices in managing pull requestsSet a Daily Limit on Pull Requests. ... Establish Coding Standards and Guidelines. ... Implement a One-to-One Task Pull Request. ... Review, Review, Review. ... Sync Your Pull Requests With a Project Management Tool. ... Improve Speed of PR Reviews and Merging With CI Automations. ... Avoiding Merge Conflicts.

How to write the perfect pull request | The GitHub Blog

As a company grows, people and projects change. To continue to nurture the culture we want at GitHub, we’ve found it useful to remind ourselves what we aim for when we communicate. We recently introduced these guidelines to help us be our best selves when we collaborate on pull requests. Approach to writing a Pull […]

10 tips for better Pull Requests - ploeh blog

Making a good Pull Request involves more than writing good code. The Pull Request model has turned out to be a great way to build software in teams - particularly for distributed teams; not only for open source development, but also in enterprises.

Pull request best practices - The Pragmatic Engineer

When an engineer proposes code changes to the codebase as part of their work and have code reviews in place, they create a pull request. This change consists of a description of the change and the actual changed files. For non-git based workflows, there are other names for this: diffs

Approach to writing a Pull Request

Include the purpose of this Pull Request. For example: This is a spike to explore… This simplifies the display of… This fixes handling of…

Offering feedback

Familiarize yourself with the context of the issue, and reasons why this Pull Request exists.

Responding to feedback

Consider leading with an expression of appreciation, especially when feedback has been mixed.

What does "self tested" mean in pull request?

Self Tested - When the developer (s) of the Pull Request has tested the changes themself according to the description they have given in the Testing Scope section.

How many PRs can a deployer merge?

There will be times when the deployer will merge 10-20 PRs at a time and it becomes hard for them to keep track of all the config changes. Because of this, it's always better to include them in the config changes section. (Don't put the secret keys there, just include the key names and how to get the secrets.)

What is a PR description?

A pull request description describes what constitutes the Pull Request and what changes you have made to the code.

Why should you include this section in a deployment?

You should include this section because it really helps the deployer understand the order of deployment. If another repo's code needs to go first, then the deployer will contact the person responsible for deployment of the other repo to make sure that their deployment happens first. Overall it helps smooth out the deployment process.

When someone comes back and sees why such a change was suggested, the relevant documents section will take them to the?

When someone comes back and sees why such a change was suggested, the relevant documents section will take them to the specific documentation so they can understand the issue clearly. Or it can take them to the technical implementation details of the scenario at the time of development.

Is it important to release a feature in a certain order on GitHub?

There are times when a particular feature spans across multiple GitHub repositories and it's important to release them in a certain order.

Do you need all sections of a PR?

In this article, we went through the different parts of a PR description. Most of the PRs you make will not need all these sections and tags, but you should try to include as many of them as you can.

Provide context

Providing context is an important first step in guiding the reviewer. Use this as an opportunity to explain why you are making this change. This can be as simple as referring to the bug/defect/issue number, and as detailed as necessary to describe your change.

Make it as small as possible, but not any smaller

Everyone agrees that smaller PRs are easier to review. Sometimes it’s just not possible to make a very small change, so here’s some practical advice: don’t do more than necessary. If you need to stray from the core of the change you are making, separate it.

Take screenshots

So you’re working on a story that affects the UI? Maybe you are fixing alignment in IE11, or adding a new interstitial modal when the user clicks a button. The code will get reviewed as it always does, but many people (like me) struggle with visualizing layout changes or CSS tweaks. Include a screen capture of the before & after.

Ask for assistance

I am a big fan of the quote “it is better to beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission”. In so many instances, not just in software, this rule helps save time. But making too big a change in your PR may be received poorly, especially when you are not a regular contributing member.

Conclusion

I am hopeful that these points help you make Pull Requests that are more quickly reviewed and accepted. What other things do you like to do in your PRs? What kinds of things would you like to see more of in PRs that you are reviewing? What would you like to see less of? Leave a comment below or hit us up @GetInRhythm on Twitter.

Why Are Pull Requests Useful?

Pull requests allow developers to effectively collaborate using code. Instead of having to push a change to the main version of a project, a developer can submit a pull request. This method allows them to facilitate feedback on their code.

Why do developers use pull requests?

Developers use pull requests to propose changes to a codebase. Using a pull request, a developer can show everyone who is working on a project what changes they think are necessary. For instance, if a developer is working on a bug fix, they could create a pull request to show everyone their solution to the bug.

How to commit a change to a repository?

You can commit a change to a repository using the git commit command. When you use this command, you’ll need to provide a short message which describes the changes you have made.

Can you skip the contributing step?

Note: You can skip this step if you are contributing to a repository you own.

Is a pull request a work in progress?

The code in a pull request may be a work in progress. This is because it will not affect the main version of a code until a git merge operation is run or the pull request is moved into the main version of a project by the project maintainer.

1. Make small PRs

The first thing you should think about writing an accurate Pull Request is that it needs to be short. The longer your Pull Request is, the more it will cost you to write and your colleagues to review it.

2. Self-describing titles

The title needs to describe clearly and precisely what this Pull Request will add to the project's repository.

3. Short and accurate description

The description doesn't have to be long to be considered good, it just needs to contain the information needed to contextualize the reviewer.

4. Provide screenshots

If your task includes interface development, consider including a screenshot of your final result in the description. Especially if the ticket is a visual bug, in this case, you can add a "before" and "after" screenshot to demonstrate how you solved the problem.

5. How did you test?

According to the test coverage adopted in your project, you must notify reviewers if you have added the appropriate test coverage in your code.

7. Bonus: sample template

In this template, I have picked the most relevant information, which you can modify according to the needs of your project.

What is a pull request?

The Pull Request (PR for short) is the method by which — specifically using Git and GitHub — you can loop interested parties into reviewing and then approving your change, then merging it into some branch (presumably the trunk). This is where you explain the “whats” and “whys” of your code.

How to use PR description?

Use your PR description as an opportunity to set the reviewer up for a review they will want to do, a review they will know how to review. Here you’ll get to explain what you’ve done, why you’ve done it, and how to prove it is ready to be merged into the main trunk. So let’s break this down a bit…

Why do we need a PR template?

Whether you’re reviewing code for a project you work on every day or a code base you’re completely new to, having a PR template is always helpful. And as a programmer, it’s a good reminder of what the developers reviewing your code will need to know to best review it.

Can you use a template for a PR?

It’s fairly easy to set up a template that you and your teammates can use to formalize the PR process. Version control providers like GitHub support automatic template injection in the description of every pull request created. See PR Templates.

What does "self tested" mean in pull request?

Self Tested - When the developer (s) of the Pull Request has tested the changes themself according to the description they have given in the Testing Scope section.

How many PRs can a deployer merge?

There will be times when the deployer will merge 10-20 PRs at a time and it becomes hard for them to keep track of all the config changes. Because of this, it's always better to include them in the config changes section. (Don't put the secret keys there, just include the key names and how to get the secrets.)

What is a PR description?

A pull request description describes what constitutes the Pull Request and what changes you have made to the code.

Why should you include this section in a deployment?

You should include this section because it really helps the deployer understand the order of deployment. If another repo's code needs to go first, then the deployer will contact the person responsible for deployment of the other repo to make sure that their deployment happens first. Overall it helps smooth out the deployment process.

When someone comes back and sees why such a change was suggested, the relevant documents section will take them to the?

When someone comes back and sees why such a change was suggested, the relevant documents section will take them to the specific documentation so they can understand the issue clearly. Or it can take them to the technical implementation details of the scenario at the time of development.

Is it important to release a feature in a certain order on GitHub?

There are times when a particular feature spans across multiple GitHub repositories and it's important to release them in a certain order.

Do you need all sections of a PR?

In this article, we went through the different parts of a PR description. Most of the PRs you make will not need all these sections and tags, but you should try to include as many of them as you can.

image

What Is A PR description?

The "Why" Section

Testing Scope

Relevant Document

Dependent PR

Configuration Changes

Tags/Labels

  • These are very important in a pull request description and convey a lot of meaning when the team grows. Following are some tags that I use, but you can add different tags according to your needs. 1. Dev Completed - When the development is completed from the dev's side. 2. Self Reviewed - When the developer(s) of the Pull Request has reviewed the Pu...
See more on freecodecamp.org

Conclusion

Provide Context

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Providing context is an important first step in guiding the reviewer. Use this as an opportunity to explain why you are making this change. This can be as simple as referring to the bug/defect/issue number, and as detailed as necessary to describe your change. In this example, I provided a link to the original issue on the npm.co…
See more on inrhythm.com

Make It as Small as possible, But Not Any Smaller

Take Screenshots

Ask For Assistance

Conclusion

1.Creating a pull request - GitHub Docs

Url:https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/creating-a-pull-request

29 hours ago Use the base branch dropdown menu to select the branch you'd like to merge your changes into, then use the compare branch drop-down menu to choose the topic branch you made your …

2.Videos of How Do You Write a pull request

Url:/videos/search?q=how+do+you+write+a+pull+request&qpvt=how+do+you+write+a+pull+request&FORM=VDRE

29 hours ago  · Approach to writing a Pull Request. Include the purpose of this Pull Request. For example: This is a spike to explore…. This simplifies the display of…. This fixes handling of…. …

3.How to write the perfect pull request | The GitHub Blog

Url:https://github.blog/2015-01-21-how-to-write-the-perfect-pull-request/

16 hours ago  · We do this by specifying “base: master” in the top box of the “Open a pull request” form. We could also propose changing the Career Karma Tutorials version of the repository by …

4.How to Write a Good Pull Request - InRhythm

Url:https://www.inrhythm.com/write-a-good-pull-request/

28 hours ago A pull request, at its most basic, sends an alert to a project maintainer. Developers only need access to read the repository to send a pull request, though to make changes to be merged …

5.Git Pull Request: How to Create a Pull Request | Career …

Url:https://careerkarma.com/blog/git-pull-request/

8 hours ago  · When you submit a pull request, you ask someone to review your changes before merging them into a branch. There are two ways to create a pull request. How you do it depends on whether you have write access to the repository. If you have write access, you can create a pull request from the repository’s page. If you don’t have write access, you need to fork the …

6.What Is a Pull Request: A Step-by-Step Guide - Devmountain

Url:https://devmountain.com/blog/what-is-a-pull-request-a-step-by-step-guide/

35 hours ago Creating a Pull Request. Creating pull requests may vary from organization to organization based on the tools being used and the type of repository (ex: GitHub, BitBucket, etc.). However, …

7.How to Write a Great Pull Request in 10 Minutes (or less)

Url:https://www.tatianeaguirres.com/blog/2020-09-20-how-to-write-a-great-pull-request/

26 hours ago

8.Writing A Great Pull Request Description | PullRequest Blog

Url:https://www.pullrequest.com/blog/writing-a-great-pull-request-description/

11 hours ago

9.What is a Pull Request? | PagerDuty

Url:https://www.pagerduty.com/resources/learn/what-is-a-pull-request/

16 hours ago

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