GitHub and YouTrack 4.1: Even better (and smoother)

Valerie Andrianova

GitHub offers a series of hooks when using YouTrack for issue management, which makes integration easier. This is not new, and in fact we’ve discussed it before. What is new, however, is support for commit linking, and the fact that until the recent release ofYouTrack 4.1, all the configuration had to be done on the GitHub side. And while the integration does work as designed and allows us to apply commands directly from commits, the settings page and steps for configuring the service hooks can be somewhat confusing, to say the least.

In-place Configuration

All configuration now takes place directly in YouTrack’s UI. Open your project’s Administration page and select the GitHub tab:

From here you can add new GitHub repositories, and configure the possibility of commit linking and applying commands from commit messages.

Commit links

With a commit link, we can get from:directly to here:That is, we can go directly to the commit from the YouTrack issue. In order to enable this functionality, we click on the Add GitHub repository link under GitHub tab, specify the connection data to connect to our GitHub repository, which is the login, password and the actual repository. Nothing else is required.

If you’re not the owner of the repository, but you have read access, you can select the checkbox Show Repositories for another owner and get a list of those.

Applying Commands

One of YouTrack’s powerful features is the ability to apply commands to tasks, and what’s more, allow these commands to be provided either via the User Interface or during a commit message. For instance, we can write #SDA-2135 Fixed in the commit message of a check-in and have YouTrack automatically mark an issue as fixed. This is a feature that the GitHub hook provides and has been available in the past. The difference now is that we can now configure this from YouTrack, and more easily than via GitHub. In order to do so, in the same dialog box for configuring the repository, we select the Committer group:Committers are actual user groups in YouTrack. With the GitHub integration service enable, YouTrack will search the specified group for a committer. By default, All Users is set as committers, but we strongly recommend that you select a particular group. It’s just more efficient, specially when you have a large number of users. We do need to remember that a user account between GitHub and YouTrack is paired based on the email address. If a match is not found, the command will not be applied.

(If you want to access repositories you do not own, for applying commands you need write access to them)

With support for commit links and easier configuration for applying commands, we’re hoping to integrate YouTrack with GitHub even more smoothly. Get the latest YouTrack 4.1 now and as always, let us know if you like it and what else you’d like to see!

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