Improve TFS2013 Pull Request merge success rate

Question

In TFS2013.4 (version 12.0.31101.0), we are using Git and a pull request based workflow. I am looking for a way to improve the pull request merging ability of TFS.

We branch from master, make our changes, then push this new branch to the TFS server and create a pull review. TFS reports that a merge can be completed successfully.

When an unrelated change is then made to master between branch creation and pull request merge. TFS invariably claims that it cannot make the merge itself, and it must be merged manually.

"Why?" text: Merge failed. This merge cannot be completed on the server. You will need to merge locally then push to the server.

In the two screenshots above, I have done just that - branch from master, commit, push, create pull request, merge is possible. Checkout master, make change, push, merge is not possible. But using "git merge" from the command line works flawlessly without user intervention.

How can I reduce the failure rate of merging pull requests in TFS, such that we only need manual intervention when there is a legitimate conflict - not just when master has moved on?

Answer 1

This workflow has been significantly improved in TFS 2015. Some of those improvements will be in 2013.5 but most are 2015.

You would be fully supported to use TFS 2015 in production and i have already been sucessfull with customers.

I don't think that you can solve this yourself and the TFS Product Team are likely continuously looking to improve this workflow. It is however new and they are iteratively making it better.