Converting Github issues into pull requests

Using the Hub library, it’s possible to convert Github issues into pull requests. This gives rise to a useful Github workflow which this article describes.

This is nothing new; it’s been written about before. However, this is something I do all the time whilst developing Oscar and I’m fed up with explaining it. This article is a reference I can point people at.

Workflow

Discuss

Discuss an idea for a new feature on the project mailing list. Agree on what needs to be done.

Specify

Create a Github issue for the feature.

It’s often useful to write the ticket as a brief functional spec, documenting the requirements as user stories. Github’s support for checkboxes in markdown is useful here:

Work

Create a feature branch to work on this issue:

(master) $ git checkout -b issue/472/django1.5

I find it helpful to include the issue number in the branch name but that might not be to your taste.

Work and commit onto your branch as normal.

Review

Now push to the remote:

(issue/472/django1.5) $ git push -u origin issue/472/django1.5

and attach your commits to the original issue, thereby converting it into a pull request.

(issue/472/django1.5) $ hub pull-request -i 472 -h tangentlabs:issue/472/django1.5

where tangentlabs is the Github username of the owner of the origin remote.

Note the issue branch was pushed to the origin remote rather than a fork. This is convenient as it lets other developers add commits to the pull request.

Iterate

The pull request can now be code-reviewed and further commits added. This process continues until the issue is resolved and can be merged into master.

Notes

Hub’s pull-request command is useful yet relatively unknown. The -i flag indicates the Github issue number while -h specifies the source branch for the pull request. Here’s the relevant help snippet:

git pull-request [-f] [TITLE|-i ISSUE|ISSUE-URL] [-b BASE] [-h HEAD]
        Opens a pull request on GitHub for the project that the "origin"
        remote points to. The default head of the pull  request  is  the
        current  branch.  Both  base and head of the pull request can be
        explicitly given in one  of  the  following  formats:  "branch",
        "owner:branch",  "owner/repo:branch".  This  command  will abort
        operation if it detects that the current topic branch has  local
        commits  that  are  not yet pushed to its upstream branch on the
        remote. To skip this check, use -f.

        If TITLE is omitted, a text editor will open in which title  and
        body  of  the  pull request can be entered in the same manner as
        git commit message.

        If instead of normal TITLE an issue number is given with -i, the
        pull  request  will  be  attached  to  an existing GitHub issue.
        Alternatively, instead of title you can paste a full URL  to  an
        issue on GitHub.

Without this command, you would end up creating a separate pull-request and issue for the same piece of work.

You can see this workflow in action via Oscar’s pull requests.