Testing Pull Requests

Why?

Let’s face it, testing new features, bug fixes, etc is time consuming.
But you can help.

While it’s true that ultimately the Collaborators decide on things, any feedback is greatly appreciated and can help the whole project move forward.

Knowing how to test PRs also allows you to use the stuff in them even before they get merged.

How?

It’s actually quite easy, but assuming you are familiar with git and how its branching works at the basic level.

There are also multiple ways to do this (as is usual with git), this is just my workflow

  1. Make sure you have the upstream QMK repo available as a remote:

    [erovia@ws]$ git remote -v
    github  git@github.com:Erovia/qmk_firmware.git (fetch)
    github  git@github.com:Erovia/qmk_firmware.git (push)
    origin  https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware.git (fetch)
    origin  https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware.git (push)

    If not, run git remote add origin https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware.git.

  2. Check the number of the PR. It’s the numbers after the title, like #1234

    [erovia@ws]$ git fetch origin pull/1234/head:review/1234
    [erovia@ws]$ git checkout review/1234
Note

You can call the local branch anything you like, I just usually call them review/<number> so I know what it was for even later.

  1. Use the feature, rebase it on the master branch, try to break it

    // Run from the feature branch
    // This will place the changes in the current branch on top of the master branch
    [erovia@ws]$ git rebase master
    // Once you are done
    [erovia@ws]$ git checkout master
    [erovia@ws]$ git branch -D review/1234
  2. Add your experiences to the PR.

    There is a tab called “Files changed”, you can suggest changes there or approve the PR.