How to checkout merge request locally, and create new local branch?

Question

I have GitLab repository there and I need to test every merge request locally, before merging to the target branch.

How can I pull/fetch merge request as a new branch?

Answer 1

1. Pull merge request to new branch

   git fetch origin merge-requests/REQUESTID/head:BRANCHNAME

   i.e git fetch origin merge-requests/10/head:file_upload

2. Checkout to newly created branch

   git checkout BRANCHNAME

   i.e (git checkout file_upload)

OR with single command

git fetch origin merge-requests/REQUESTID/head:BRANCHNAME && git checkout BRANCHNAME

i.e git fetch origin merge-requests/18/head:file_upload && git checkout file_upload

Answer 2

This is also documented in GitLab online documentation : https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/merge_requests/reviewing_and_managing_merge_requests.html#checkout-merge-requests-locally-through-the-head-ref

They supply this script (git alias) :

[alias]     mr = !sh -c 'git fetch $1 merge-requests/$2/head:mr-$1-$2 && git checkout mr-$1-$2' - 

Then you can use this command :

git mr origin 4

So a new local branch mr-origin-4 will be created.