Improve messaging around "assumed merged" MRs
Context
When the commits on an open MR are merged into the MR's target branch by a second MR, we mark the first MR as merged
. This is expected behavior, but it leads to confusion on the part of users, and for those who rely on our security and merge controls (such as approval rules) this can result in a loss of confidence in those tools.
We've seen enough examples of this over the last 6 months that we reflexively reach for "oh, it's just THAT weirdness again.." as an explanation; we should see our being habituated to explaining a bug or quirk as an opportunity to improve the product. While we're familiar enough with the situation, it's a panic moment for users, and results in a scramble internally as support engineers hunt for a solution. We can improve everyone's Efficiency (not to mention just improving their day!) if we make this behavior more obvious to users.
Investigation
See #436061 (comment 1724370960)
Proposal
- Document the existing behavior
- Improve the messaging in the product, to make it clear that a merge request A might be marked as merged because of a merge request B that contains the same changes was merged.
- Current proposed messaging:
marked as merged as all commits are contained in the target branch
- Naming thread: #436061 (comment 1784151751)
- Current proposed messaging: