DEV Community

Cover image for πŸ”₯ How to merge a pull request
Andrei Luca
Andrei Luca

Posted on • Updated on

πŸ”₯ How to merge a pull request

There are some rules that are best to follow when merging a pull request.

When merging a pull request, GitHub offers 3 options:

  • Create a merge commit
  • Squash and merge
  • Rebase and merge

We should use each of them depending of the situation:

  • If PR has only one commit and commit explains well what was done use Rebase and merge
  • If PR has only one commit but commit does not explain exactly what was done use Squash and merge and add commit name that will explain more exactly what was done
  • If PR has more commits but they are intermediary (ex: fix style, add object, remove test ) also use Squash and merge and add a commit name that will group all commits in one
  • If PR has more commits but every commit has an explicit title what has been done, each commit is a single unit, then use Create a merge commit so each commit will be visible in default branch

If you want to read more about how to write correct commit messages, follow the link https://conventionalcommits.org

Cover Photo by pine watt on Unsplash

Latest comments (3)

Collapse
 
sargalias profile image
Spyros Argalias

Wow. This is a really good strategy. Very nice tip, thanks! Squashing bad commits and commit messages sounds great as sometimes the source history for a branch is not useful anyway.

Usually my team aims for good commits like in your last point, but it doesn't always happen.

Collapse
 
iamandrewluca profile image
Andrei Luca

Check out this conventionalcommits.org

Collapse
 
sargalias profile image
Spyros Argalias

Thanks very much. That's already what I use ;). Highly recommended for everyone.