Learn the essential steps needed to create a pull request on GitHub, including forking a repository, cloning it locally, making commits, and pushing changes to your fork.
Table of Contents
Question
What is needed before you can create a pull request on GitHub?
A. Send a patch file to maintainers via email
B. Clone a repo, commit changes, and force push
C. Get accepted as a team member
D. Fork a repo, clone it, commit changes, and push to your fork
Answer
D. Fork a repo, clone it, commit changes, and push to your fork
Explanation
While you can clone any public GitHub repository, by default you don’t have the right to push any modifications. Fork the repository to create your own copy first.
To create a pull request on GitHub, you need to follow these steps:
- Fork the repository you want to contribute to by clicking the “Fork” button on the repository’s GitHub page. This creates a copy of the repository under your GitHub account.
- Clone the forked repository to your local machine using the `git clone` command followed by the URL of your forked repo. This downloads a local copy of the code that you can work on.
- Create a new branch in your local repository to make your changes on. This keeps your changes separate from the main branch.
- Make the desired changes to the code in your local repository and commit them using the `git commit` command. Be sure to include a clear commit message describing your changes.
- Push your committed changes from your local repository to your forked repository on GitHub using the `git push` command.
Once you have pushed your changes to your forked repository, you can then go to the original repository on GitHub and create a pull request by clicking the “New pull request” button. This notifies the maintainers of the original repository that you have changes you would like them to review and potentially merge into their codebase.
Therefore, the correct answer is:
D. Fork a repo, clone it, commit changes, and push to your fork
The other options are incorrect:
A. Sending a patch file via email is an outdated workflow and not the standard way to contribute on GitHub.
B. Force pushing is generally discouraged and you should create a pull request from your fork, not push directly to the main repo.
C. You do not need to be an accepted team member to create a public pull request on GitHub.
GitHub Foundations certification exam assessment practice question and answer (Q&A) dump including multiple choice questions (MCQ) and objective type questions, with detail explanation and reference available free, helpful to pass the GitHub Foundations exam and earn GitHub Foundations certification.