Hub: `hub pull-request` should allow a different default branch to be set

[wagenet]

Right now it's hardcoded to default to "master".

https://github.com/defunkt/hub/blob/master/lib/hub/commands.rb#L118
https://github.com/defunkt/hub/blob/master/lib/hub/context.rb#L149

[mislav]

Yes, the default branch is usually master.

If you want to open a pull request against a different branch, use the -b option:

git pull-request -b [<owner>/]<branch>

[wagenet]

Yeah, I discovered this. I was just thinking it would be nice to set a config default somewhere since Github itself allows you to set a default branch.

[mislav]

Maybe. Not sure if it's worth it. I have come across one or two repos that have their main branch other than "master" (in fact, they might not have a "master" at all), but my experience alone hardly justifies adding and maintaining another hub option.

I'll think about this.

[debonet]

FWIW, we would appreciate this feature as well.

It would be really great if hub could determine github's default branch itself.

[nilcolor]

A section in .git/config will be good enough. And everybody who use git flow is with develop branch as default target for PR's.

[danharper]

Just got bit by this by accidentally merging a pull request to master instead of our default branch develop, so this feature would be appreciated. (We're following a model similar to git flow)

[mislav]

Sure, I'm for this. The default branch for a project would be read from GitHub API, right?

I'm not familiar with git flow and the local conventions it has, but I would avoid detect its setup locally and simply read it from GH API. This has a side-effect of adding 1 additional HTTP request to pull-request command and slowing it down a little.

[danharper]

Yeah, I think reading the default branch set on GitHub should be enough.

[mislav]

Since I don't have time to implement this right now, you're welcome to take a stab at doing it. Test are a must in the end but even a proof of concept would be good for starters.

[farmdawgnation]

I might take a stab at this implementation this weekend. I want this very much too.

[mislav]

Closing in favor of #326

[danielcompton]

For future searchers (as this is top of Google), to set the correct branch:

git remote set-head origin <new-branch>

[christopher-francisco]

Or you can run git remote set-head origin -a to have it automatically determine what's the correct base branch.

[csaska]

This doesn't seem to work when I create the pull-request from a worktree; however, if I switch back to the original clone, the command works perfectly.

From the worktree, I see the following:

{"base":"master","head":"pHWChip:feature/colt_testing","maintainer_can_modify":true,"title":"Testing"}

From the original clone, I see the following:

{"base":"core_master","head":"pHWChip:feature/colt-testing-2","maintainer_can_modify":true,"title":"Testing"}