Ability to allow SOME branches to merge (branches that fix the build).

[Former user]

We do all our development on branches, including fixes. We never work on develop directly.

This plugin sounds like a great thing, but we can't work out how to merge a fix to fix a build to allow everyone else to merge.

I guess what I am asking for, is a feature that allows a select type of branch to be merged. Perhaps if it contains a keyword, or if it's branch type is "build-fix" or something like that..

[Mark Gillespie]

Sorry, should have said, this is for "Build Status for Automerge" plugin (I came here via the support link on Stash Plugins page), it seems it's a generic issue tracker for multiple products.

[Georgy Bolyuba]

Yeah, there is bit of a mix up on marketplace.

[Georgy Bolyuba]

@mark_gillespie I am not sure what you are asking for. Can you provide an example of your workflow? Is it similar to https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/comparing-workflows/feature-branch-workflow/ ?

[Mark Gillespie]

Hi, yes we use something similar to the feature branch workflow. Nobody works on our develop stream directly, all work, including build fixes are done on branches (so we can use pull requests to track reviews).

Our problem with this plugin us that its chicken and egg conundrum :-) we need to merge a branch to fix the build to allow branch merging.

[Georgy Bolyuba]

Fix build in the develop branch you mean? The one you merge all you PRs into?

[Mark Gillespie]

Yes, even build fixes are on branches

[Georgy Bolyuba]

Then I see 3 situations:

• develop branch builds - in this case plugin would stop everyone from merging anything that will break develop (in principle, of course one might run different sets of tests on different branches, build on different environments, etc).
• develop branch has exactly one problem - in this case plugin will allow you to merge the bug fix. If you have configured the plugin correctly and your pull request fixes the develop branch your automerge commit will be "buildable" and plugin merge check will let it through.
• develop branch has more than one problem - yep, using plugin in this scenario will prevent you from merging anything (unless you create one pull request that will fix all issues in develop branch)

[Mark Gillespie]

Ahh, I should have said, we only run bamboo ci builds on our main develop branch.

[Georgy Bolyuba]

Hmm. Then I do not understand what you need this plugin for :). The use case for this plugin is the one where CI reports builds for shadow automerge commits (/refs/pull-requests/*). Check out the docs for more details: http://docs.bruho.com/atlas/stash/addons/buildstatus/

[Georgy Bolyuba]

For what it worth, maybe you should install this plugin and setup a CI builds for automerge - given you admitted you have develop in unbuildable state from time to time. Using this plugin guarantees that your future state of develop branch (i.e. after you merge your pull request into develop) will pass CI build. Before you merge it.