# Github Pull Requests ## Problem Statement The concept of a pull request is unique to GitHub — so don't feel nervous about not knowing what it is! "Pull requests" power the communities of developers who create and contribute to "open sourced" projects on GitHub. Through this process, **anyone** can 1. *fork* a repo from its original organization 2. *clone* it to a local machine 3. Make changes in a feature *branch* on their local system 4. *push* their branch to their *forked* repo ...and now the critical step.... 1. Suggest that the original organization *pull* the changes that make up the feature branch *back to the original repository*. Instead of the owner working on their codebase alone, *anyone* can contribute tests, documentation fixes, new features, layout, graphics, etc. How does this feature work? It's an awesome feeling when you wake up and see that someone you've never met has made an improvement to your code that they'd like to contribute! ## Objectives 1. Explain what a pull request is 2. Identify how to create a pull request from a fork to a repo 3. Identify how to add commits to an existing pull request ## Explain What a Pull Requests Is A pull request is a request to the owner of another repo to take changes you made in a branch on your *fork* of their repo and integrate it into theirs *as if* you had done the work *on theirs directly*. It is a request for the owner of a repository to accept your changes, that you made on your own copy of the repo ("your fork"), and "pull" them into the owner's repository. [Here](https://github.com/ruby/ruby/pull/1051) is a great example of a pull request on the `Ruby` codebase. > **NOTE** The term “pull requests” comes from the distributed nature of how many open source projects organize themselves. Instead of pushing your changes into a central repository, you are publishing your changes separately and asking the maintainer to pull in your changes. The maintainer then can look over the changes and do said pull. This is not the same as by `git pull`, which will integrate changes made in a remote repo to the your local version of the branch. ## Identify How to Create a Pull Request from a Fork to a Repo Let's go over a conceptual, hypothetical example. It's okay if this feels a bit confusing at first. You'll work through this countless times and eventually your brain and fingers will both grasp what's going on. Let's look at the following example: 1. Let's pretend that the `learn-co-students` organization has a repo called awesome-lab, and we make a "fork" from this repo at `https://github.com/learn-co-students/awesome-lab`. 2. You would now have a *copy* of that repo on your GitHub account ("organization") i.e. `https://github.com/your-user-name/awesome-lab`. Technologists would say you "forked" the `awesome-lab` repo from the `learn-co-students` organization to the `your-user-name` organization. 3. However, you still would not have a *local* copy of this repository on your computer. 4. You would clone from **your** fork to your computer. There's no reason you *couldn't* clone from the *original* repo. However, most repo owners don't want random people on the internet (like you!) committing to their repo. What you're going to do is establish a "parallel" repo in *your* org and then tell the "source" repo "Hey, I added something awesome, I'm requesting that you *pull* it in." 5. Make some changes on your local machine in a branch 6. Push your code branch from your local system *back* to *your* fork 7. Create a `pull request` that requests your improved code be "pulled" into the source repo. Observe the steps for initiating a `pull request` below: ### Step 1 [![](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/c5991b8381fd56735a5d955ca4de33bcec13f3fa/68747470733a2f2f637572726963756c756d2d636f6e74656e742e73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f67697470756c6c732f322e706e67)](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/c5991b8381fd56735a5d955ca4de33bcec13f3fa/68747470733a2f2f637572726963756c756d2d636f6e74656e742e73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f67697470756c6c732f322e706e67) ### Step 2 Here you can choose the base fork, which will be `their-user-name/awesome-lab`. Then choose the head fork, which will be `your-user-name/awesome-lab` Now click Create pull request, and you're all set! [![](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/64c9bee03eb953500703b95a8f5462c852b0f077/68747470733a2f2f637572726963756c756d2d636f6e74656e742e73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f67697470756c6c732f342e6a7067)](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/64c9bee03eb953500703b95a8f5462c852b0f077/68747470733a2f2f637572726963756c756d2d636f6e74656e742e73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f67697470756c6c732f342e6a7067) What if another student now forks the repository `https://github.com/learn-co-students/awesome-lab` as `https://github.com/their-user-name/awesome-lab`, then you make some changes and you want to send a pull request to their fork `https://github.com/their-user-name/awesome-lab`? How do you do this? Luckily, `git` doesn't care whether one repository is the "source" or is "another fork of the source." If GitHub magically vanished tomorrow, local copies on hundreds of laptops 'round the world are *just as good as the copy that GitHub* had! This is why `git` is called a "Distributed Version Control System." So, to share a pull request with another student follows the same process as forking some famous project (like Ruby or jQuery). ## Identify How to Add Commits to an Existing Pull Request Let's say you make a pull request from `https://github.com/your-user-name/awesome-lab` to `https://github.com/learn-co-students/awesome-lab`. Then you notice you made a typo in your code. All you have to do is fix the typo, commit it and push up the changes to your branch. As long as the pull request already exists, the commits will be added automatically. ## Conclusion Pull requests are merely a tool that allows project owners and project editors to collaborate without granting too much direct access, or potentially stepping on each others' toes. This action can be performed even on a repo you are a collaborator on, but may not have write access to — but we won't get into that just yet. You'll continue to learn more about collaboration and how git enables you to track and edit projects to your heart's content! View [GitHub Pull Request Basics](https://learn.co/lessons/github-pull-request-basics) on Learn.co and start learning to code for free.