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Pull/Merge Changes in GitHub

A pull request is GitHub's terminology for starting the process to merge changes from one branch into another. In this example, we will merge changes from branch3 into main, effectively updating the mainline version of the files in the GitHub repository.

Create a Pull Request

  1. Locate and click the green Compare & pull request button:

    github-pull-request-initiate

  2. Add the following details to the pull request:

    • Title - Branch3
    • Comment - Merge of changes from ** branch3** to **main**
    • Click on the the Reviewers list.
      • Typically, you would assign at least one reviewer to a pull request. This allows yout to ask a peer to put a second set of eyes on your changes before a merge occurrs.
      • GitHub does not allow you to assign your own GitHub account as a reviewer of a pull request that you create. For this exercise, you don't need to enter anything in the Reviewers list.

  3. Click the green Create pull request button:

    github-pull-request-open

Merge the Pull Request

  1. Review the details of the pull request and then click the green Merge pull request button:

    github-pull-request-merge

  2. GitHub gives you one more prompt to confirm the merge action.

  3. Click the green Confirm merge button to complete the pull request.

    github-pull-request-merge-confirm

Remove Branch3 from GitHub

  1. Just in case you didn't confirm the merge action enough already, GitHub gives you the option to revert the operation. For the purpose of this walkthrough, we can skip this step.

  2. In some cases, you may want to retain branches after you merge their changes into the main branch, or any other branch. In this case, we will remove branch3 to keep from cluttering the repository with a history of every branch. Click the Delete branch button to remove branch3 from GitHub.

    github-pull-branch-delete

  3. Click the git-repo-1 link at the top of the window to return to the repository home page.

    github-pull-branch-delete-done

  4. Notice the message which indicates the merge of the pull request.

    github-pull-request-complete

We are just about done. Next up, we will look at how the merge of the pull request in GitHub impacts our local Git repository. Click the link below to continue:

Next Section > Review The Pull Request Impact to Your Local Git Repository