Merge Commits are Back (and Better than Ever)
After a long hiatus, we’re linking to merge commits again. We truncated merge commits months ago, because they didn’t provide any information beyond the shas of the parents, but now…
After a long hiatus, we’re linking to merge commits again. We truncated merge commits months ago, because they didn’t provide any information beyond the shas of the parents, but now we’re exposing the diff between them as an overview of what changed in the branch.
Essentially, what we’re doing behind the scenes is: git diff parent1…parent2
This page will become the basis for a more extensive code review system that, coupled with our current code commenting, will really provide a lot of value for large projects.
(If older merge commits aren’t showing diffs, it’s most likely that it got cached without the additional data)
Written by
Related posts
Explore the best of GitHub Universe: 9 spaces built to spark creativity, connection, and joy
See what’s happening at Universe 2025, from experimental dev tools and career coaching to community-powered spaces. Save $400 on your pass with Early Bird pricing.
Agents panel: Launch Copilot coding agent tasks anywhere on GitHub
Delegate coding tasks to Copilot and track progress wherever you are on GitHub. Copilot works in the background, creates a pull request, and tags you for review when finished.
Q1 2025 Innovation Graph update: Bar chart races, data visualization on the rise, and key research
Discover the latest trends and insights on public software development activity on GitHub with the quarterly release of data for the Innovation Graph, updated through March 2025.