Stash: permission to decline pull request but not merge

Question

It appears that a user can decline a pull request if and only if he/she can merge it (i.e., has write access to its target).  Instead, is it possible to configure stash such that a user can decline a pull request if and only if he/she can approve it (i.e., has read access)?

Clifford D. Krumvieda · Answer

I agree in some workflows it is necessary for 'decline' to have a different (probably higher) permission level than 'approve'.  Similarly, I believe there are valid workflows where 'decline' needs to have a different (probably lower) permission level than 'merge'.  This is because someone with merge privileges not only determines what can be merged to the target branch, but also when and in what order PRs are pulled.

There are several ways to implement my request, and I'm not advocating for a particular one.  E.g.:
* Add a permission level.
* Add a toggle that determines whether 'read' has 'decline' privileges or not.
* Separate privileges ('can view PRs', 'can decline PRs', 'can merge PRs', etc.) from roles ('reader', 'branch captain', 'admin', etc.) and provide a mechanism to map privileges to roles.

Tim Crall1 · Answer

Approve is just a "thumbs up" - it doesn't actually do anything.  Merge affects the codebase so obviously requires write.  But decline does more than just vote "thumbs down" (there is no equivalent for that) - it disposes of the Pull Request, so thus it requires the higher degree of permission.

Clifford D. Krumvieda · Answer

Perhaps, but approve (read) and merge (write) require different access levels today.