From Simple to Advanced – Boolean Merge-Check Expressions for Bitbucket

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No doubt: pull request merge-checks are a God-sent for larger teams that require a thorough pull request review process. At the end of the process, only when all conditions are fulfilled, the pull request can be merged.

However the process and merge-check requirement can become too rigid and actually slow down the process – one reviewer is on leave, and another one is working in a different timezone and is already enjoying their weekend. You wind up chasing reviewers for their approval so the pull request can be merged.

Think of pull request merge-checks as a long checklist, all items end up as an AND condition.

Enterprise-sized teams need a balance of sufficient control and enough flexibility when it comes to approving and merging pull requests.

How about flexible, nested boolean merge-check expressions? A tree of decisions you would make in real life anyway when navigating changing circumstances?

The pull request will be automatically merged if:

• more than 2 digital signatures and more than 1 successful build and 50% or more of reviewers have approved, OR
• more than 2 digital signatures and more than 1 successful build and 2 or more members per reviewer group have approved.

Here’s another merge-check condition that responds to recent events

(requiredBuildsCount > 0 & groupQuota >=2) | groupQuota['royal-family-members'] > 0

So now if push comes to shove and the delivery deadline is approaching fast, just have a member of the Royal Family approve and the pull request is merged instantly, no builds, no other approvals! That’s what we call being flexible.

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Happy coding!

Sean Manwarring

Head of Marketing at Izymes

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Izymes’ mission is to eliminate boring from work. We build apps that turbo-charge team velocity through contextual automation.

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