Cross Repo Branch Policies in Azure Git Repos

Azure Git repos provide protection to branches with branch policies. The cross-repo branch policy in a team project now lets you define policies applicable to a branch pattern, where it would even be applied to future branches which are adhering to the specified pattern. Let’s explore this feature in bit of detail.

Building Code from Multiple Repos with YAML Pipelines

You could only build code from a single repo using classic build pipelines in Azure DevOps. Now with multiple repo support added to YAML build pipelines (pipeline as code), you can decide which of the repos you want to checkout and build, in a single pipeline build sequence. Let’s see the steps in detail.

Import BitBucket Cloud Repo to Azure Git Repo

Azure DevOps being a comprehensive Application Lifecycle Management tool provides Azure Git Repos as the distributed version control system which can be easily integrated with, Azure Boards to track requirements, and Azure Pipelines and Azure Tests, implement build and deployment automations as well as test management and test automation. If you are already a BitBucket cloud git repo user you may want to move your repos in BitBucket could to the Azure Git Repos to get the advantages it offers, with totally integrated set of Azure DevOps features. Let’s look at the steps required to import a BitBucket cloud repo with history to Azure Git Repos.

Draft Pull Request in Azure Git Repos

Pull Request are the controlled way to bring in the changes to your stable branches in your Azure Git repos, or for that matter all Git providers support Pull Requests. In Azure DevOps now you can create Pull Request as a draft so that it is giving the ability to developers to getting it ready and prevent it from being completed accidently by the reviewers. Let’s look at simple steps involved in creating Pull Request as a draft in Azure Repos.

Inspecting Most Frequently Changed Files in Azure Git Repos

When analyzing an application with its telemetry data we would be looking at usage of the application, and would be able to identify which parts of the system is often used. Wouldn’t it be nice to compare that with the most frequently updated areas of the system? Let’s look at how we can get this information via Azure DevOps REST API.

Check if a Build Definition Exists for a Given Repo in VSTS/TFS

In scenarios where you have many teams working in the same team project, you might have multiple TFS Git repos within a single team project. When you want to create a build definition for a given repo, you might be wondering what if there is a build definition already exists for the repo. Opening each build definition to find that out is a waste of time. Let’s look at a small utility script that can give you the information quickly using VSTS/TFS REST API.