Prevent Toggling Issue/Merge Request Status Without Comment
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Problem to solve
An issue or merge request should not be closed or re-opened without a reason- therefore it seems reasonable to prevent it.
Intended users
Everyone/all GitLab users.
User experience goal
Nothing is worse than finding an issue to see it was closed with no apparent explanation. The optimal user experience would force the user to add a comment when closing/re-opening.
Proposal
- Remove the close/re-open button at the top of issues/merge requests (possibly replacing it with a jump link to the comment form at the bottom).
- Disable the "close/reopen" button below the comment form when the comment box is empty
We may want to make this a configurable (not sure the best route? feature flag, group setting, project setting).
Further details
We would need to consider if the same rule is applied via the API (and i'm not sure if the API currently has a mechanism for commenting and toggling issue/mr status in a single action).
There is always a risk users will just put a space or period etc in the comment box to "get around" the restriction. Perhaps we should enforce a minimum length?
Permissions and Security
Documentation
What does success look like, and how can we measure that?
It should no longer be possible to close/reopen a merge request or issue without adding a comment why.
What is the type of buyer?
This would be in the free/core product.