In software development, PR stands for Pull Request. A pull request is a method of submitting contributions to a software development project. It is a request that a developer sends to make changes to a current codebase. Pull requests are sent through git systems, like GitLab, GitHub, and BitBucket, to notify the rest of the team that a branch or fork is ready to be reviewed. The main purpose of a pull request is to initiate the process of integrating new code changes into the main project repository.
Pull requests are created with versioning tools like git and generally involve a repository like GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, or Azure DevOps. The pull request button serves as an entirely separate platform for discussing the new feature. Updates can be kept isolated from the main project while also increasing internal and possibly external collaboration and streamlining debugging. If the changes have any issues, the team can provide input through the PR and push follow-up commits to modify the feature.
Pull requests give the team an opportunity to share insights or request that the developer fix part of their code. They tend to substantially increase the quality of code going into codebases. In addition to the points above, PRs are also generally looked at as learning opportunities. When someone points out that a mistake was made in the code, it’s a lesson moving forward. Updating the team is another important aspect of pull requests.
Heres how git pull requests fit into the development process:
- Fork the main git repository and generate a topic branch
- Make any necessary changes on a local level
- Push local changes to forked repository
- Create a pull request
- Review and discuss the changes
- Merge the changes into the main repository
Overall, pull requests are an important part of the software development process that fosters collaborative software development by allowing developers to add more features or fix bugs without altering the project’s source code or affecting the user experience.
