Is there a "merge check" that requires the PR's source branch to be up-to-date with the destination?

[Michael J Smith]

Here's the scenario:

Dev A branches from develop and creates branch "feature/abc-123". Dev A then pushes a commit to their feature branch and creates a Pull Request to merge "feature/abc-123" back into the develop branch.

While that first PR is in review, Dev B branches from develop and creates branch "bugfix/abc-456". Dev B fixes the issue quickly, pushes a commit, creates a PR.

The team reviews the PR for the bugfix first, since it is higher priority. The PR for "bugfix/abc-456" gets approved and merged into the develop branch.

The first PR from Dev A is now stale. That is, the branch "feature/abc-123" no longer has all of the latest updates from the develop branch. The workflow process for my team would *require* Dev A to merge develop into feature/abc-123 before the PR can be approved. Is there a Bitbucket workflow or merge check that will notify the user in the PR that the source branch is NOT up-to-date? 

If not, this becomes a manual process of checking that the source branch is up to date before clicking Merge on any PR.

And yes, we have a Premium account, so we are able to configure merge checks to be required before the Merge button can be used.

Here's an attempt at illustrating the desired process:

develop ==> feature/abc-123   (branched)
develop ==> bugfix/abc-456    (branched)
feature/abc-123 ==> develop   (PR merged)


bugfix/abc-456 XXXX> develop  (merge attempt is blocked)

develop ==> bugfix/abc456     (merged)
bugfix/abc-456 ==> develop    (PR merged)

Thanks in advance!

[Julius Davies [bit-booster.com] · Accepted solution]

Bitbucket Server:  both of our paid add-ons can enforce this:  Control Freak for Bitbucket Server, and Bit-Booster - Rebase Squash Amend.   

In Control Freak the setting is called "Require Fast-Forwardable Merges" (via settings --> control freak).

In Bit-Booster the merge-check is called: "Bit-Booster Require Fast-Forwards"

Note:  Control Freak allows global, per-project, per-repo configuration, with support for exemptions, whereas Bit-Booster only allows per-repo configuration.  Both apps default to "off" for this merge and push check.

Bitbucket Cloud (a.k.a. bitbucket.org):  I don't think such a check is possible at this time.

[Michael J Smith]

Okay. I am looking for a solution in Bitbucket Cloud, so it seems that we'll need to apply this as a manual check for now.

Thanks for the quick response!

[mykhailo-riabokon]

@Michael J Smith Hello. 

I am looking for the same answer and as you replied almost half a year ago I am wondering did you find some workaround for your case? Thank you for any help.

[Michael J Smith]

No, unfortunately this request is still unfulfilled in Bitbucket Cloud. My team has added a manual (human) process to merge master into the branch and wait for a successful build result before merging any PR. This is part of what we do for each PR and there isn’t anything in the system to enforce it. 

[mykhailo-riabokon]

Thank you for your prompt answer. I hope it will be implemented soon as part of Bitbucket Cloud.