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Self Merge Rates

Question: How many of the contributions in the project repository are being merged by the original contributor?

Overview:

Self Merge Rate measures the number of change requests merged by the author and merged without going through a change request review process. Data points include the number of self-merged pull requests/merge requests compared to the total number of merged requests within a specific timeframe. Measuring this metric informs project health and sustainability by indicating the strength of the code review culture. Healthy projects prioritize code reviews for all contributions, regardless of the contributor's experience level. Reviews reinforce the merge process, ensure code quality, and provide feedback. Self-merges should be rare and justified. Community managers track review health progress (e.g., declining self-merge rates) and review participation. OPSO managers use review health to evaluate open-source projects. Potential users and community members also use review health to assess a project's overall health and collaborative culture. Ensuring that all contributions are reviewed, a projects will create a level playing field where all contributors, regardless of background or experience, receive feedback and support, in turn creating a more inclusive community.

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Click to read more about this metric.

Data Collection Strategies

Existence of automated reviews (e.g., non-bot and non-rule based reviews): there should be reviews with text-based comments, emoji’s, or assigned reviewer approval.

Filters

  • Merge without review
  • Lines of code changed
  • File type changed (e.g., code vs. documentation)
  • Volume/size of reviews
  • Time


References

  • GitHub interface
  • GitLab interface

Contributors

  • Ray Paik
  • Matt Germonprez
  • Kevin Lumbard
  • Elizabeth Barron
  • Dawn Foster
  • Peculiar C. Umeh

Additional Information

To edit this metric please submit a Change Request here
To reference this metric in software or publications please use this stable URL: https://chaoss.community/?p=5306

To edit this metric please submit a Change Request here: https://github.com/chaoss/wg-common/blob/main/focus-areas/contributions/self-merge-rates.md

To reference this metric in software or publications please use this stable URL: https://chaoss.community/?p=5306

The usage and dissemination of health metrics may lead to privacy violations. Organizations may be exposed to risks. These risks may flow from compliance with the GDPR in the EU, with state law in the US, or with other laws. There may also be contractual risks flowing from terms of service for data providers such as GitHub and GitLab. The usage of metrics must be examined for risk and potential data ethics problems. Please see CHAOSS Data Ethics document for additional guidance.

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