Improve TFS2013 Pull Request merge success rate

Question

In TFS2013.4 (version 12.0.31101.0) we use Git and a workflow based on a pull request. I am looking for a way to improve the ability to merge TFS request requests.

We go from the wizard, make our changes, then push this new branch to the TFS server and create a review overview. TFS reports that the merger can be completed successfully.

When then an unrelated change occurs to take hold between creating the branch and merging the pull request. TFS invariably claims that it cannot perform the merge itself, and 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. 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 did just that: a branch from master, commit, push, create pull request, merging is possible. It is not possible to place an order for the wizard, make changes, click, merge. But using git merge from the command line works flawlessly without user intervention.

How to reduce the frequency of dropping requests for merging requests in TFS, so that we need only manual intervention when there is a legitimate conflict, and not only when the master has moved?

Answer 1

This process has been greatly improved in TFS 2015. Some of these improvements will be in 2013.5, but most of them will be in 2015.

You would be fully supported to use TFS 2015 in production, and I have already been successful with clients.

I don’t think you can solve it yourself, and the TFS product team is probably constantly looking for improvements to this workflow. This, however, is new, and they iteratively make it better.