Support rerunning `--pr-merge` with `--strategy append`

[MPV]

I'd like to be able to "rerun Octopilot, and have it attempt auto-merging again".

Steps to reproduce:

1. Let Octopilot create PRs (with flags --pr-merge and --strategy append)
2. Some PRs may not have auto-merged, for example/possibly due to outstanding issues as described in:
   • Clarify permissions needed for auto-merge (--pr-merge) #280
   • Add dynamic/smart --pr-merge-method (trying several methods) #281
3. Return a while later, rerunning step 1 above.

Expected results:

1. PRs created (and some merged)
2. PRs changing into a merge'able state (approved by codeowners, checks passing)
3. PRs outstanding being merged.

Actual results:

1. OK
2. OK
3. PRs outstanding are not touched by Octopilot, as it considers No changes recorded, nothing to push and Repository update has no changes, as seen in:

time="2023-11-20T15:15:31Z" level=debug msg="Git repository cloned" git-reference=HEAD git-url="https://github.com/my-org/my-repo.git" local-path=/tmp/octopilot1734020439/my-org/my-repo
time="2023-11-20T15:15:31Z" level=info msg="Found existing Pull Request" labels="[HAWK-1546 octopilot-update gha-workflows]" pull-request="https://github.com/my-org/my-repo/pull/310" repository=my-org/my-repo
time="2023-11-20T15:15:31Z" level=debug msg="Updater finished" changes=true repository=my-org/my-repo updater="Exec[cmd=sh,args=[-c git add .]]"
time="2023-11-20T15:15:31Z" level=debug msg="All updaters finished" repository=my-org/my-repo
time="2023-11-20T15:15:31Z" level=debug msg="No changes recorded, nothing to push" repository=my-org/my-repo
time="2023-11-20T15:15:31Z" level=warning msg="Repository update has no changes" repository=my-org/my-repo
time="2023-11-20T15:15:31Z" level=info msg="Updates finished" repositories-count=3

[MPV]

I imagine this could be the related code:

octopilot/repository/repository.go

Lines 158 to 164 in 96db95b

	repoUpdated, pr, err := strategy.Run(ctx)
	if err != nil {
	return false, fmt.Errorf("%w", err)
	}
	if !repoUpdated {
	return false, nil
	}

...which runs into this:

octopilot/repository/strategy_append.go

Lines 70 to 73 in 96db95b

	if !changesCommitted {
	logrus.WithField("repository", s.Repository.FullName()).Debug("No changes recorded, nothing to push")
	return false, nil, nil
	}

...which makes this code not run:

octopilot/repository/repository.go

Lines 166 to 182 in 96db95b

	if !options.GitHub.PullRequest.Merge.Enabled {
	logrus.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
	"repository": r.FullName(),
	}).Debug("Pull Request merging is disabled")
	return true, nil
	}
	if pr == nil {
	logrus.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
	"repository": r.FullName(),
	}).Warning("No Pull Request was created - can't merge it!")
	return true, nil
	}
	err = r.mergePullRequest(ctx, options.GitHub, pr)
	if err != nil {
	return true, fmt.Errorf("failed to merge Pull Request %s: %w", pr.GetHTMLURL(), err)
	}

Would you agree that's the case?

How might we work towards supporting this?

[vbehar]

ok, so if I understand correctly you'd like octopilot to retry merging an existing PR, even if it doesn't need to change anything in the code.
that's reasonable, I'll have a look at the code to see how to enable that.

[MPV]

ok, so if I understand correctly you'd like octopilot to retry merging an existing PR, even if it doesn't need to change anything in the code. that's reasonable, I'll have a look at the code to see how to enable that.

Yes, that's the idea:

"Here's the code change I want merged, octopilot make it so." 🤖