Non-divergent dist-git branches

To prevent your dist-git branches from diverging, you can use the following dist_git_branches syntax:

  dist_git_branches:
    rawhide:
      fast_forward_merge_into: [fedora-branched]
    epel-9: {}    

In this example, Packit runs the downstream synchronization process for the rawhide and epel-9 branches as usual. Additionally, Packit opens a new pull request reusing the commit from rawhide for every fedora-branched branch, allowing it to be fast-forwarded when merging.

You can learn more about the dist_git_branches syntax for propose_downstream here and for pull_of_upstream here.

How to Reconcile Divergent Branches

If you are already using Packit, your branches may have diverged. You need to reconcile them before using the new dist_git_branches syntax. For the configuration example above and the current state of the branched Fedora releases, you need to:

git checkout rawhide
git merge f39
git merge f40
git merge f41

You shouldn't encounter any conflicts. However, if you have a conflict in the .gitignore file, it is safe to keep changes from both rawhide and the incoming branch. If you have a conflict in the changelog section of the specfile, ensure you merge all the missing changelogs into rawhide and list them in the correct order (newest changelogs first). Once rawhide is ready, you can proceed with:

# [TODO] Adjust the releases, if needed.
git checkout f39; git merge --ff-only rawhide
git checkout f40; git merge --ff-only rawhide
git checkout f41; git merge --ff-only rawhide

Fast Forwarding multiple commits does not automatically trigger a Koji build (Yet)

Unfortunately, there is a bug that prevents Packit from triggering the Koji build when more than one commit has been forwarded in a branch.

You can work around this bug by manually retriggering the Koji build by commenting on the downstream merged pull request with /packit koji-build.