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GitHub Desktop 3.4 – Reset to Commit and Accessibility Settings

GitHub Desktop 3.4 lets you reset back to a specific commit quickly with “Reset to Commit” and improves discoverability of key application controls.

Resetting to Commit

With Reset to Commit, it takes one click to set your local history back to your latest pushed commit, with all of the reverted changes landing back into your changes list. While similar to using the undo function, Reset to Commit allows for resetting more than one commit at a time. By adding a new way to modify your history, Reset to Commit fits right along side undoing, reverting, amending, squashing, reordering, and cherry-picking features.

GitHub and the Desktop team are committed to making GitHub Desktop a tool for all developers. With GitHub Desktop 3.4, links are underlined by default and checkmarks are used in the diff to indicate whether a line is selected to be committed. These changes are aimed to enhance discoverability, be keyboard-accessible, and be semantically marked up to enable interaction with assistive technologies.

For users who want to opt out of these changes, check out the new Accessibility settings pane to customize your experience.

Automatic updates will roll out progressively, or you can download the latest GitHub Desktop here.

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GitHub-hosted runner images deprecation notice: Docker Compose v1

Docker Compose v1 has been deprecated as of July 2023. All customers utilizing Compose v1 on GitHub-hosted runners are encouraged to migrate to Compose v2. Per GitHub’s support policy we will remove this tool from our GitHub managed runner images effective July 9, 2024.

To avoid breaking changes, customers will need to update their Actions workflow files from using docker-compose to docker compose. After July 9, workflows will begin to fail that are using the previous syntax. Customers are advised to review the migration instructions to ensure they are making all the changes required.

For more information on GitHub managed images, see the runner-images repository.

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Updates to your GitHub Feed

September 12, 2023 update:

When we launched the latest version of your feed on September 6, 2023, we made changes to the underlying technology of the feed in order to improve overall platform performance. As a result, we removed the functionality for “push events for repositories a user is subscribed to”. We don’t take these changes lightly, but as our community continues to grow tremendously, we have to prioritize our availability, user experience and performance. 

Thanks to feedback from the community, we have fixed the following bugs from the initial September 6th release:

  • We were showing releases for organizations that you follow, instead of only showing them for repositories that you watch or star. This is now fixed. 
  • We have also addressed a problem where ‘Followed You’ cards were sometimes appearing out of chronological order.
  • We do not plan to re-include “push events for repositories a user is subscribed to” for the reasons listed above, but we will continue to address feedback as it aligns with our platform goals.

Your homepage feed will now have a singular, consolidated feed that aggregates content from your starred repositories and followed users. As part of this update:

  • The content from the “Following” feed has been combined with the “For you” Feed, so you’ll have one singular location to discover content.
  • For those looking to customize, we’ve enhanced the filtering controls, enabling you to tailor your feed to display only the event types that matter most to you. Including:
    • Announcements (special discussion posts from repositories)
    • Releases (new releases from repositories)
    • Sponsors (relevant projects or people that are being sponsored)
    • Stars (repositories being starred by people)
    • Repositories (repositories that are created or forked by people)
    • Repository activity (issues and pull requests from repositories)
    • Follows (who people are following)
    • Recommendations (repositories and people you may like)
  • We’ve given the entire interface a fresh and visually appealing makeover ✨

image

What this means for you

If you’re an existing “Following” feed user, your feed content should be familiar to what you’ve been seeing on your “Following” tab. And now, with our new filtering control, you can fine-tune your content preferences to further curate your feed.

If you’re an existing “For you” feed user, we’ve also defaulted your filtering to showcase what you currently see on your “For you” tab. The new filtering control allows you to further customize your feed by including or excluding specific content types.

New users, we’ve got you covered with default settings that ensure you’re seeing the most relevant content. Dive in, personalize, and make the feed your own!

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GitHub Desktop 3.3 – Repository rules

Repository rules allow you to easily add scalable protections for branches and tags on your repositories. This feature was recently made generally available, and GitHub Desktop 3.3 now adds support for repository rules in the form of preemptive warnings and errors if your work fails a rule configured by an administrator of your repository. These rules can fail when commits are pushed to GitHub, which may not be ideal if you queue up multiple commits before pushing. Advanced warning allows you to make changes before committing, saving you time and frustration.

Repository rules

Administrators can configure many different repository rules that apply to branches or tags. If a commit fails any of them, you won’t be able to push it to GitHub. This can be frustrating if you have multiple commits queued up, because the whole push will fail and you may have to perform a rebase to fix the failed commits. GitHub Desktop will now preemptively warn you if a commit you’re working on will fail a rule when you eventually try to push it. These warnings happen in several ways.

Branch creation

Specific branch names may be disallowed. You’ll now see an error if you try to create a branch that isn’t allowed.

GitHub Desktop’s “Create a branch” dialog showing a disallowed branch name error

Metadata rules

GitHub Enterprise Cloud customers can utilize metadata rules that require certain fields to conform to specific values. One example being commit messages, which can be required to match a specific string or a regex pattern. These metadata rules are fully supported in GitHub Desktop 3.3.

GitHub Desktop’s commit message area, showing an error for a commit message rule failure

Additional rules

Certain rules have remediations that aren’t supported by GitHub Desktop, such as requiring status checks to pass. These rules are bundled into a catch-all error message above the commit button.

GitHub Desktop’s commit message area, showing a generic error for a failed repository rule

Bypassing

Administrators can allow certain apps, roles, or teams to bypass rulesets. If you can bypass rules, the guidance shown is in the form of warnings instead errors, to let you know to be extra careful.

GitHub Desktop’s commit message area, showing bypass warnings for a commit message rule and another rule

Shout out to our open source contributors

GitHub Desktop is proud to be an open source project and represents both GitHub and the open source community. Thanks to @le0pard for creating the RE2JS library being used for repository rules regex matching.

Automatic updates will roll out progressively, or you can download the latest GitHub Desktop here.

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GitHub Desktop makes force pushing and fetching easy and adds pull request comment notifications

GitHub Desktop 3.2.3 makes force pushing and fetching through the newly added fetch/pull dropdown menu items as well as adding pull request comment notifications. Since 3.2.1, GitHub Desktop has also released more than 30 accessibility improvements.

Force-pushing and Fetching

In GitHub Desktop 3.1.5, we added the ability to force-push and fetch to the Repository menu item when applicable. Now, when those menu items would be available, the pull/push/fetch button becomes a dropdown so users can easily force push or fetch.

Gif that shows a user pressing fetch to put the repository in a diverged state. Then, shows the user opening the new dropdown and force pushing their changes to overwrite the changes in the remote.

Pull Request Comment Notifications

If you have been enjoying our Pull Request notifications on your repositories, you will be happy to hear we have expanded those notifications to include when someone has commented on your pull request as well so that you can keep up to date on the latest conversations happening on your pull request.

Accessibility

GitHub Desktop is actively working to improve accessibility in support of GitHub's mission to be a home for all developers.

GitHub Desktop 3.2.1

  • Misattributed warning is announced in 'Git' preferences/options by screen readers – #16239
  • The Preferences/Options dialog content is still visible when zoomed at 200% – #16317
  • Up/down arrow can be used to navigate autocomplete lists like emoji again – #16044
  • Focus history and changes list when accessed via keyboard shortcut or menu – #16360
  • On Windows, app level menu bar and menu items are announced by screen readers – #16315
  • Keyboard shortcuts for resizing app sidebar and file lists – #16332
  • Misattributed commit popover does not clip when app is zoomed – #16407
  • Accessibility improvements for the co-authors input – #16335
  • Commit completion status is announced by screen readers – #16371, #16340
  • Improve accessibility of dialogs for screen reader users – #16350
  • Accessibility improvements for autocompletion suggestions – #16324
  • Learn more links are descriptive for screen readers – #16274
  • Popover titles are announced by screen readers – #16270
  • Show offset focus ring for buttons, vertical tabs etc – #16288
  • Application main menu on Windows doesn't clip when zoom is set to 200% – #16290
  • Button and text box contrast bumps – #16287
  • Other email input in "Git" preferences/Options and misattributed popover email select have a screen readable label – #16240
  • Add/remove co-authors button is now keyboard accessible – #16200

GitHub Desktop 3.2.3

  • NVDA reads number of suggestions when an autocompletion list shows up – #16526
  • The undo commit confirmation modal message is screen reader announced – #16472
  • Clipping and overlapping of the changes list is fixed at 200% zoom – #16425
  • The commit message avatar is now a toggle tip making the commit author details keyboard accessible – #16272
  • The commit length hint is keyboard and screen reader accessible – #16449
  • The changes list header checkbox tooltip description is announced by screen readers – #16457
  • The changes list header checkbox tooltip is keyboard accessible – #16487
  • Announce a file's state of inclusion in the commit on the changes list – #16420
  • Display focus ring around focused control after dismissing a dialog – #16528
  • Identify the changes list and history commit list as the changes and history tab panels for screen readers – #16463
  • Windows title bar controls do not interrupt screen readers in browse mode – #16483
  • Make radio theme selection look like radio buttons. – #16525
  • Improve accessibility of GitHub Enterprise login flow – #16567"
  • Screen readers announce sign in errors – #16556"

Automatic updates will roll out progressively, or you can download the latest GitHub Desktop here.

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GitHub Desktop 3.2 – Preview your Pull Request

In GitHub Desktop 3.1, we introduced viewing the diff of changes across multiple commits. This allows you to be certain there are no unintended changes in the group of commits you are about to push. Taking that feature to the next level, GitHub Desktop 3.2 allows you to Preview your Pull Request – see a diff of all the changes being introduced by your feature branch into your repository's default branch.

Preview Pull Request Image showing debugger in a diff

Learn more about GitHub Desktop here.

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GitHub Desktop improves force pushing and fetching along with many great open source contributions

GitHub Desktop 3.1.5 improves support for force pushing and fetching through the newly added Repository menu items as well as supporting pull request notifications on forks. This release also comes with many great contributions (12 changelog entries! ✨ ❤ ✨) from our open source contributors.

Force-pushing and Fetching

Previously, a user could only force push after an action such as rebasing. Now, when users find their branch in any diverged state, they can opt to use the force push Repository menu item. For example, a user can force push when commits exist on the remote that they are sure they want to overwrite.

ALT GitHub Desktop repository in a diverged state with Repository menu open showing force push menu item

Similarly, a user may find themselves in a new local branch they are not ready to publish, yet they want to fetch to see if there are any new changes on their main branch they would want to merge in. Instead of having to switch branches, they can use the Repository menu item to fetch those changes.

Notifications for Forks

If you have been enjoying our Pull Request notifications on your repositories, you will be happy to hear that with 3.1.5 those same notifications are supported on forks.

Open Source Contributions

We love the help we get from the open source community, providing many fixes and improvements for everyone to enjoy.

Thank you @angusdev for contributing all these fixes:

  • Hide window instead of hiding the app on macOS
  • The repository change indicator is visible if repository list item is selected and in focus
  • Tooltips are positioned properly if mouse is not moved
  • Tooltips of long commit author emails wrap to multiple lines
  • Clone repository progress bar no longer hidden by repository list
  • Close repository list after creating or adding repositories

Thank you @tsvetilian-ty for adding support for JetBrains Toolbox and JetBrains Fleet editor for Windows.

Thank you @zipperer for adding support for emacs editor.

Thank you @patinthehat for adding support for JetBrains PhpStorm and WebStorm editors

Thank you @daniel-ciaglia for adding support for VSCodium as an external editor.

Thank you @Shivareddy-Aluri for adding the ability to copy tag names from the commit list.

Thank you @j-f1 for improving the the diff view by adding highlighting to Arduino's .ino files as C++ source.

Learn more about GitHub Desktop here.

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Organization Discussions

You can now enable Discussions for your organization, which is a place for your organization to share announcements and host conversations that aren't specific to a single repository within
your organization. To get started, go to Organization Settings -> Discussions -> Enable discussions for this organization.

enable org discussions

For more information, see GitHub Discussions documentation.

For questions or feedback, visit GitHub Discussions feedback.

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Discussions Community Insights

Get insights on your Discussions community with the new dashboard called Community in the Insights tab. This dashboard gives you a quick way to monitor the following:

  • Number of Discussions, Issues, and Pull Requests open over time
  • Page views of Discussions over time, segmented by logged in vs anonymous users
  • Daily Discussions contributors over time
  • New Discussions contributors over time

image

For more information, see GitHub Discussions documentation.

For questions or feedback, visit GitHub Discussions feedback.

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