How to update a pull request from forked repo?

642
votes

So I first forked a repo and then made a commit to that forked repo. I then opened a pull request. The pull request listed all the changes I wanted.

After reviewing my pull request, there were a number of changes that the repo owner wanted me to make before he accepted it. I have made those changes in my fork, now how do I update the pull request with those changes (or is this not how I should handle it)?

5
gitversion-controlgithub
possible duplicate of Preferred Github workflow for updating a pull request after code review - Paul Draper
@PaulDraper I disagree, that user already knows and presents various methods for updating a pull request, and ask which is best. I on the other hand, did not know of any methods and was asking about their existence. As the popularity of this question shows, this is the case for many other users. - stevebot
I think the popularity is due to the fact that (1) this is a really good, common question and (2) some users wound up here instead of there. If it had been originally identified as a duplicate, they would have found the other question to be the same and answer their question. - Paul Draper

5 Answers

626
votes

You have done it correctly. The pull request will automatically update. The process is:

  1. Open pull request
  2. Commit changes based on feedback in your local repo
  3. Push to the relevant branch of your fork

The pull request will automatically add the new commits at the bottom of the pull request discussion (ie, it's already there, scroll down!)

80
votes

Updating a pull request in GitHub is as easy as committing the wanted changes into existing branch (that was used with pull request), but often it is also wanted to squash the changes into single commit: 

git checkout yourbranch
git rebase -i origin/master

# Edit command names accordingly
  pick   1fc6c95 My pull request
  squash 6b2481b Hack hack - will be discarded
  squash dd1475d Also discarded

git push -f origin yourbranch

...and now the pull request contains only one commit.

Related links about rebasing:

38
votes

Just push to the branch that the pull request references. As long as the pull request is still open, it should get updated with any added commits automatically.

15
votes

I did it using below steps:

  1. git reset --hard <commit key of the pull request>
  2. Did my changes in code I wanted to do
  3. git add
  4. git commit --amend
  5. git push -f origin <name of the remote branch of pull request>
3
votes

If using GitHub on Windows:

  1. Make changes locally.
  2. Open GitHub, switch to local repositories, double click repository.
  3. Switch the branch(near top of window) to the branch that you created the pull request from(i.e. the branch on your fork side of the compare)
  4. Should see option to enter commit comment on right and commit changes to your local repo.
  5. Click sync on top, which among other things, pushes your commit from local to your remote fork on GitHub.
  6. The pull request will be updated automatically with the additional commits. This is because the pulled request represents a diff with your fork's branch. If you go to the pull request page(the one where you and others can comment on your pull request) then the Commits tab should have your additional commit(s).

This is why, before you start making changes of your own, that you should create a branch for each set of changes you plan to put into a pull request. That way, once you make the pull request, you can then make another branch and continue work on some other task/feature/bugfix without affecting the previous pull request.