Is it possible to get a list of merges into a branch from the Github website OR API?

git github branching-and-merging github-api
andy picture andy · Feb 7, 2014 · Viewed 24.8k times · Source

In our workflow, no "direct" commits are made into the master branch. The master branch only receives merges from Pull Requests.

We can think of each merge then as a new feature added to the master branch.

So I'd like to get a list of merges into master, as a way to visualize the blocks of features added into the product over time.

Does git or the Github API expose this query, or do I have to parse raw commits?

Answer

Fábio Batista picture Fábio Batista · Nov 10, 2017

I use the following script:

git log --merges --first-parent master \
        --pretty=format:"%h %<(10,trunc)%aN %C(white)%<(15)%ar%Creset %C(red bold)%<(15)%D%Creset %s"

Explaining each argument:

  • --merges: only "merge" commits (more than 1 parent);
  • --first-parent master: only merges applied to master. This removes the entries where someone merged master into their branches;
  • --pretty-format: applies the following formatting:
    • %h: the commit short hash;
    • %<(10,trunc)%aN: author name, truncated at 10 chars;
    • %<(15)%ar: the relative commit time, padded to 15 chars;
    • %<(15)%D: the tag names, also padded to 15 chars;
    • %s: first line of the commit message.

The result is pretty satisfying:

terminal image of the command output

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