Creating a pull request encountered 'Base branch does not allow updates. 's error.

[Leaovo-man2]

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I'm planning to contribute code to a repository, and after creating a pull request, I get an error:

[lab596]

"Base branch does not allow updates" error while creating a pull request indicates that the repository's settings prevent updates to the base branch. This might be due to branch protection rules, such as requiring pull requests to be up to date with the base branch before they can be merged.

1. Try to Rebase Your Branch:
   Ensure that your feature branch is up to date with the latest changes from the base branch. You can do this by rebasing your branch onto the base branch. This action replays your changes on top of the latest base branch changes.

2. Contact Repository Maintainers:
   If you've tried to rebase and force-push your commits to that branch and are still encountering the error, it's possible that the repository maintainers have specific rules or settings in place that you're not aware of. Reach out to them for assistance or guidance on how to properly contribute your changes.

3. Follow Repository Guidelines:
   Make sure you're following the repository's contribution guidelines and development workflow. Some repositories have specific requirements for creating pull requests and maintaining branches, so familiarize yourself with those guidelines.

[lazarljubenovic]

We can ask ChatGPT ourselves, you know.

[seyLu]

In the case of contributing to another repo via forking

• first create a new branch

creating a branch from main branch is like copying the contents of the main branch, and making changes to the copy (without affecting the main branch)

you can do this via CLI

# assuming you are in main branch
git checkout -b <name_of_new_branch>
  
# if not, first checkout to main, then create the branch
git checkout main
git checkout -b <name_of_new_branch>

or via github

• click on main branch button
• click view all branches
• click new branch
• write the name of the new branch
• make sure the source branch is main
• click create new branch
• click the new branch to switch to that branch

You make changes to the branch and Commit as usual

If using CLI when using git push, your local computer doesn't know that it should point that new local branch to a new remote branch so you have to explicitly tell it to do so

# this will create and point to a remote branch in github with the same name as the local branch
git push --set-upstream origin <name_of_new_branch>

If using github

• after making changes, click commit changes button
• write a commit message
• make sure you are committing to the <name_of_new_branch> branch
• click commit changes

Once you're done, you create and submit a Pull Request

• if you go to the repo, you will see a banner
• click compare & pull request
• supply a title
• describe the changes you've made
• click create pull request

The original owner(s) or maintainer(s) of the repo will then review your pull request

If it's up to par with their standards, then and only then you're changes will be merged to main

you can read more on creating PRs here, an fcc article:
https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-make-your-first-pull-request-on-github-3

[b-opacic-bm]

settings -> branches -> [your_branch] -> edit -> untick the "lock branch"
Fixed for me, hope it helps somebody 🤸

[ninebelowzero]

Thank you, I was the somebody :-)

[ivan-spichka]

thanks, this was helpful)

[frederikheld]

Is it relevant when this setting was changed? It feels like branches that have been opened when "lock branch" was active on main keep showing the "merging is blocked" warning.

[noahwelch]

I just ran into this and it required a different solution than I saw here. My problem was that in addition to branch protection rules at /settings/branches, there was also a ruleset with conflicting rules on my base branch. I went to /settings/rules and deleted the ruleset.