Update branch with rebase repository setting

[avaly]

The new update branch feature is great!

But for teams which are only using the rebase functionality, it's not optimal to always have to pick the rebase option from a drop down menu.

It would be ideal if there were a repository level setting to configure which option is the default for that button.

[michaelbeaumont]

It'd be great for it to even just remember the last used option like the "Merge PR" option does.

[filipesperandio]

💯 even better then having a default.

[burz]

The issue I am facing is that even when merge commits are disabled in the repository settings, the update button still defaults to merge commits.

Please change the "update branch" button to either follow the same rules as the overall PR options, or allow it to be configured separately to disallow certain options.

(The "update branch" is a great feature, btw!)

[rmacklin]

I would vote for separate configuration as this would allow for the button to be used even when the project desires "semi-linear" history (where merge commits are allowed to be created when merging a fully-rebased branch into the mainline).

[rmacklin]

This was also requested in a comment on another feature request: #3245 (comment) and that comment currently has more upvotes than this post (so the upvotes here are under-represented)

[ManuelRauber]

That would be an awesome feature, if we choose the strategy to update the branch, just like we do with PR merging.

[rathpc]

Hey @scotttesler, any chance we can get some traction on this please? 🙏

[dimisjim]

doubtful, with all the layoffs circling around.

[marcusramberg]

@krisnova ^^ This is the issue I was talking about on your Twitch stream. 😸

[ferologics]

ditto

[valentin-krasontovitsch]

there's no way for a user (non github employee) to contribute to the github codebase and make this happen, is there?

[deefactorial]

Is there any update from the GitHub team regarding this feature request?

[dcornewell]

We were just discussing how update with rebase is preferred but most of my dev team just clicks the button. I'd like it at least to be configurable to be the first option to save a click.

[GANTR0N]

This would be a major help for how our testing system is integrated, this is a small change that would be a big QoL help.

[williamglasse]

Our team would really benefit from this too! Have had a couple of team members accidentally merge, and then have had to undo that change. Would really like to be able to select a default other than "merge"

[mbirchdk]

Would love this feature! Sucks when teammembers accidentally presses the merge button

Personally I want merge-commits from feature-branches on to the main-branch, but I dont want to allow merge-commits for updating other branches, this should be done using rebase. I tried enforcing it with the branch-protection rule "require linear history" on all other branches than main. But unfortunately it uses the entire commit-history, and not just the commits on the specific branch

[manemarron]

Our team would love this feature as well. We would like the feature branches to be updated using rebase to avoid having so many merge-commits. Our master, staging, and develop branches would be updated using merges obviousy, but for feature branches or fix branches, this feature would help us have a cleaner commit history in a simpler way.

[chirag-ema]

Please please add this feature. Seeing merge commits in our PRs disturbs a lot of future github actions (like creating releases and generating change logs)

[tompaz3]

It would be nice to be able disable "Update with rebase" completely as well.
We use commits signature verification and this feature is useless in our case, because when it does the rebase and force push, it creates new, unsigned commits which will fail the signature verification (it cannot sign the commits as it does not have the access to the private key, obviously).

Poeple still use the "Update with rebase" feature every once in a while and get confused why their PR checks fail and they have to do the interactive rebase locally to sign all the commits once again.

[jeffhole]

To add to the "disable" conversation, the "Update branch" button could have a section in Settings under General just like the Pull Request button:

• allow merge commits
• allow squash commits
• allow rebasing commits

Update Branch button options:

• allow update with merge commit
• allow update with rebase

There should definitely be an option for selecting the default as well, for both buttons!

[mecampbellsoup]

What's the status of this, is GitHub even aware?

[sandstrom]

Don't know, but if you are a paying customer you can submit a feature request asking about it.

[repsejnworb]

Been awaiting this (and a "Update branch with rebase and merge into main"-button) for so many years.

Please Github

[WaleedAshraf]

Response from GitHub support as of today,

Currently, Update with rebase as the default when updating a branch from the main branch option isn't available.

We have however heard this request from other customers as well. I have gone ahead and added your voice to our internal issue tracking this feature. I can not say if or when this feature might be added, but we'll make sure to document it in the GitHub Changelog or the GitHub Blog if it becomes available.

[0cjs]

Here's another vote to add this.

[benjamin-brabant]

Here's another vote to add this.

[sandstrom]

If you are paying for Github, write their support and ask for it. Just writing it here will not make much of a difference.

[NathanBraslavski]

Count my vote as well, I will also write support.

[codella]

This would be very nice to have 🙏🏽 please, make it happen!

[repsejnworb]

I feel like over the years we've added thousands upon thousands of votes for this feature, but for the sake of it - here is my vote added (again).

[pieeri]

Adding our voice here as a very nice way and feature for enforcing such a development process at an organisation level!

[ankon]

Our workflow is to "rebase" branches in PRs, so that the history in the branch itself stays quite linear, and then create explicit merge commits (without squashing) when the PR branch gets merged into the mainline.

It would be very helpful for us indeed if we could org-wide require the "Update branch" button to always use "rebase" as strategy.

[rathpc]

It has been nearly 3 years since this issue was first raised, is there any movement on this at all?

[ptrkstr]

Would love this feature as well 🥹