News
March 6th, 2020
We have now implemented non-admin restrictions on many actions that were previously able to be performed by anyone who had access to a repository.
From now on only administrators of a repository can:
- Add a protected branch to the repository
- Edit a protected branch
- Delete a protected branch
- Add/edit/delete/disable/re-enable a recurring freeze
- Add/refresh an API access token
- Add/edit/delete a Slack integration
- Edit the freeze method of a protected branch
February 28th, 2020
We've just released a new way of implementing a merge freeze, so now you have two options. Let's take a look at what they are:
Option 1: Push a status update to all PRs (default)
Freezing and unfreezing will push a new merge freeze status update to all open pull requests. All PRs will see this:
Pros
- The "Unblock 1 pull request" feature will be available to use.
- Services such as PolicyBot need status checks to report statuses of success or failure for certain things. This method fulfills that requirement.
Cons
- If you have many open PRs you may hit rate limits. Github has a limit of 5,000 requests per hour. Every time you freeze or unfreeze we need to make an API call to every open pull request. More info on Github rate limits.
Option 2: Toggle a branch protection rule
Freezing will add a protected branch rule on the repository, unfreezing will remove it again. All PRs will see this:
Pros
- No need to worry about rate limits.
Cons
- The "Unblock 1 pull request" feature will not be available.
- Services such as PolicyBot need status checks to report statuses of success or failure for certain things. This method does not report a status to each pull request.
Option 2 requires write permissions to your repository's "administration" privilege. Unfortunately Github's permissions aren't granular enough to be able to update a branch protection rule without this permission being granted. Existing users will receive an email from Github telling them that the Merge Freeze app is requesting these new permissions. The above new option is the reason for this request.