As of Launchpad 2.1.12, Launchpad now supports creating merge proposals using bzr send.

One-time set-up

Please make sure you have your public and submit branches set properly. Below is an example ~/.bazaar/locations.conf

[/home/rockstar/Projects/launchpad/]
submit_branch = /home/rockstar/Projects/launchpad/trunk
push_location = bzr+ssh://bazaar.launchpad.net/~rockstar/launchpad/
push_location:policy = appendpath
public_branch = bzr+ssh://bazaar.launchpad.net/~rockstar/launchpad/
public_branch:policy = appendpath
submit_to = merge@code.launchpad.net


[/home/rockstar/Projects/launchpad/trunk]
public_branch = bzr+ssh://bazaar.launchpad.net/~launchpad-pqm/launchpad/devel

Please ensure the lpreview_body plugin is installed:

bzr branch lp:~launchpad/lpreview-body/trunk/ ~/.bazaar/plugins/lpreview_body

Creating a New Merge Proposal

Once your environment is set up, bzr send is as easy as

bzr send

This will create a merge directive containing a diff and a bundle, and place them in your preferred email client to polish off and send to Launchpad. The lpreview_body plugin will pre-populate the message body with our standard template, plus lint output.

Next, you edit and send the message.

When Launchpad receives the message, it will use the bundle to create a branch on Launchpad, and then propose it for merging. Launchpad will use the body of your message as the initial comment of the merge proposal.

Claws support

The default mail client support via xdg-utils should be used at present, because Bazaar's direct support for Claws has not yet been updated to work with the lpreview_body plugin. It is a known issue that xdg-utils causes a modal dialog box to confirm that a file has been attached.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: How do I specify revisions to generate the diff from?

Answer:When doing bzr submit, you may want to only generate a diff from a range of revisions. You can use -r parameter to specify the range, as below:

bzr send -r 1234..1239

This will generate a diff from revno 1234 to 1239.

Question: Does this work with looms?

Answer: Launchpad's Loom support needs some work, and this doesn't make it better or worse. However, you can specify a diff between threads by doing

bzr send -r thread:..-1

Question: Does this handle dependent branches?

Answer: No. bzr send's model is that you propose merging a particular change, so dependent branches are incompatible with that model. We do expect to resurrect the feature at some point, but it will only work in the web UI.

Question: Can I download the diff from the merge proposal in the web UI?

Answer: Not yet, but this is a planned feature. However, if you receive an email about the merge proposal being created, it will include the diff as an attachment.

Question: What URLs are recognized by bzr send?

Answer: lp:, bzr+ssh:, sftp: and http: are all recognized. Remote URLs for Remote Branches and Mirrored Branches will work. Decorated versions, such as nosmart+bzr+ssh: will not work.

Question: How does lpreview_body decide whether to provide a body?

Answer: The target branch must match this regex: bzr\+ssh://bazaar.launchpad.net/~launchpad-pqm/launchpad/(db-)?devel

Question: Can I submit a branch that is not hosted on Launchpad?

Answer: Yes. Launchpad will create a RemoteBranch for the source branch if the source is not represented on Launchpad. However, the target branch must be known to Launchpad.

Question: Should I use the --no-patch option to bzr send?

Answer: No. Launchpad uses that patch verbatim. If it's not present, LP cannot show a diff.

Question: What if I want to use my editor, like review-submit did?

Answer: You can configure Bazaar to use the "editor" mail client.

Question: What if I use web mail?

Answer: You can use the "editor" mail client.

Question: Will we be reinstating the lpreview plugin using the bzr send stuff?

Answer: No. the lpreview-body plugin is a replacement for that functionality.

Intrepid client configuration

Due to bug #291847, it is necessary to specify your mail client on Intrepid. Possible values include: evolution, kmail, thunderbird, emacsclient, mutt, claws

If your client is not supported, you can use "editor".

e.g.

[DEFAULT]
mail_client = thunderbird