• Merge request cannot retrieve the pipeline status
  • Sidekiq
  • Pipeline status cannot be retrieved
• Rebase a merge request from the Rails console
• Fix incorrect merge request status
• Close a merge request from the Rails console
• Delete a merge request from the Rails console
• Merge request pre-receive hook failed
• Cached merge request count
• Check out merge requests locally through the head ref
  • Check out locally using glab
  • Check out locally by adding a Git alias
  • Check out locally by modifying .git/config for a given repository
• Error: “source branch <branch_name> does not exist.” when the branch exists

Merge request troubleshooting

When working with merge requests, you might encounter the following issues.

Merge request cannot retrieve the pipeline status

This can occur if Sidekiq doesn’t pick up the changes fast enough.

Sidekiq

Sidekiq didn’t process the CI state change fast enough. Wait a few seconds and the status should update automatically.

Pipeline status cannot be retrieved

Merge request pipeline statuses can’t be retrieved when the following occurs:

1. A merge request is created
2. The merge request is closed
3. Changes are made in the project
4. The merge request is reopened

To enable the pipeline status to be properly retrieved, close and reopen the merge request again.

Rebase a merge request from the Rails console

In addition to the /rebase quick action, users with access to the Rails console can rebase a merge request from the Rails console. Replace <username>, <namespace/project>, and <iid> with appropriate values:

u = User.find_by_username('<username>')
p = Project.find_by_full_path('<namespace/project>')
m = p.merge_requests.find_by(iid: <iid>)
MergeRequests::RebaseService.new(project: m.target_project, current_user: u).execute(m)

Fix incorrect merge request status

If a merge request remains Open after its changes are merged, users with access to the Rails console can correct the merge request’s status. Replace <username>, <namespace/project>, and <iid> with appropriate values:

u = User.find_by_username('<username>')
p = Project.find_by_full_path('<namespace/project>')
m = p.merge_requests.find_by(iid: <iid>)
MergeRequests::PostMergeService.new(project: p, current_user: u).execute(m)

Running this command against a merge request with unmerged changes causes the merge request to display an incorrect message: merged into <branch-name>.

Close a merge request from the Rails console

If closing a merge request doesn’t work through the UI or API, you might want to attempt to close it in a Rails console session:

u = User.find_by_username('<username>')
p = Project.find_by_full_path('<namespace/project>')
m = p.merge_requests.find_by(iid: <iid>)
MergeRequests::CloseService.new(project: p, current_user: u).execute(m)

Delete a merge request from the Rails console

If deleting a merge request doesn’t work through the UI or API, you might want to attempt to delete it in a Rails console session:

u = User.find_by_username('<username>')
p = Project.find_by_full_path('<namespace/project>')
m = p.merge_requests.find_by(iid: <iid>)
Issuable::DestroyService.new(container: m.project, current_user: u).execute(m)

Merge request pre-receive hook failed

If a merge request times out, you might see messages that indicate a Puma worker timeout problem:

• In the GitLab UI:

  Something went wrong during merge pre-receive hook.
  500 Internal Server Error. Try again.
  

• In the gitlab-rails/api_json.log log file:

  Rack::Timeout::RequestTimeoutException
  Request ran for longer than 60000ms
  

This error can happen if your merge request:

• Contains many diffs.
• Is many commits behind the target branch.
• References a Git LFS file that is locked.

Users in self-managed installations can request an administrator review server logs to determine the cause of the error. GitLab SaaS users should contact Support for help.

Cached merge request count

In a group, the sidebar displays the total count of open merge requests. This value is cached if it’s greater than 1000. The cached value is rounded to thousands (or millions) and updated every 24 hours.

Check out merge requests locally through the head ref

A merge request contains all the history from a repository, plus the additional commits added to the branch associated with the merge request. Here’s a few ways to check out a merge request locally.

You can check out a merge request locally even if the source project is a fork (even a private fork) of the target project.

This relies on the merge request head ref (refs/merge-requests/:iid/head) that is available for each merge request. It allows checking out a merge request by using its ID instead of its branch.

In GitLab 16.6 and later, the merge request head ref is deleted 14 days after a merge request is closed or merged. The merge request is then no longer available for local checkout from the merge request head ref anymore. The merge request can still be re-opened. If the merge request’s branch exists, you can still check out the branch, as it isn’t affected.

Check out locally using glab

glab mr checkout <merge_request_iid>

More information on the GitLab terminal client.

Check out locally by adding a Git alias

Add the following alias to your ~/.gitconfig:

[alias]
    mr = !sh -c 'git fetch $1 merge-requests/$2/head:mr-$1-$2 && git checkout mr-$1-$2' -

Now you can check out a particular merge request from any repository and any remote. For example, to check out the merge request with ID 5 as shown in GitLab from the origin remote, do:

git mr origin 5

This fetches the merge request into a local mr-origin-5 branch and check it out.

Check out locally by modifying .git/config for a given repository

Locate the section for your GitLab remote in the .git/config file. It looks like this:

[remote "origin"]
  url = https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss.git
  fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

You can open the file with:

git config -e

Now add the following line to the above section:

fetch = +refs/merge-requests/*/head:refs/remotes/origin/merge-requests/*

In the end, it should look like this:

[remote "origin"]
  url = https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss.git
  fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
  fetch = +refs/merge-requests/*/head:refs/remotes/origin/merge-requests/*

Now you can fetch all the merge requests:

git fetch origin

...
From https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss.git
 * [new ref]         refs/merge-requests/1/head -> origin/merge-requests/1
 * [new ref]         refs/merge-requests/2/head -> origin/merge-requests/2
...

To check out a particular merge request:

git checkout origin/merge-requests/1

All the above can be done with the git-mr script.

Error: “source branch <branch_name> does not exist.” when the branch exists

This error can happen if the GitLab cache does not reflect the actual state of the Git repository. This can happen if the Git data folder is mounted with noexec flag.

Prerequisite:

• You must be an administrator.

To force a cache update:

1. Open the GitLab Rails console with this command:

   sudo gitlab-rails console
   

2. In the Rails console, run this script:

   # Get the project
   project = Project.find_by_full_path('affected/project/path')
   
   # Check if the affected branch exists in cache (it may return `false`)
   project.repository.branch_names.include?('affected_branch_name')
   
   # Expire the branches cache
   project.repository.expire_branches_cache
   
   # Check again if the affected branch exists in cache (this time it should return `true`)
   project.repository.branch_names.include?('affected_branch_name')
   

3. Reload the merge request.