ci: add guard against zero-change PRs (rubber-stamp prevention) #1738

Rockachopa · 2026-04-30T22:58:40Z

Rockachopa commented

2026-04-30 22:58:40 +00:00

Issue #1445 — Prevent rubber-stamping of PRs with no changes

Problem

PR #359 had 0 additions, 0 deletions, 0 changes but received 3 APPROVED reviews — rubber-stamping without actual review.

Solution (Option 1: CI Validation)

Add a gate that rejects PRs with zero file changes to the CI pipeline.

Implementation

Modified .gitea/workflows/ci.yml
Added new step "Guard: reject PRs with zero file changes" to the validate job
Runs immediately after checkout to fail fast
Uses git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD | wc -l to count changed files
Fails with clear error message if count == 0

Verification

YAML syntax validated
Step runs before any expensive validation
Clear blocking message guides contributors

Closes

This PR closes #1445.

## Issue #1445 — Prevent rubber-stamping of PRs with no changes ### Problem PR #359 had 0 additions, 0 deletions, 0 changes but received 3 APPROVED reviews — rubber-stamping without actual review. ### Solution (Option 1: CI Validation) Add a gate that **rejects PRs with zero file changes** to the CI pipeline. ### Implementation - Modified `.gitea/workflows/ci.yml` - Added new step **"Guard: reject PRs with zero file changes"** to the `validate` job - Runs immediately after checkout to fail fast - Uses `git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD | wc -l` to count changed files - Fails with clear error message if count == 0 ### Verification - YAML syntax validated - Step runs before any expensive validation - Clear blocking message guides contributors ### Closes This PR closes #1445.

Rockachopa added 1 commit 2026-04-30 22:58:42 +00:00

ci: add guard against zero-change PRs (rubber-stamp prevention)

CI / test (pull_request) Failing after 1m53s

Details

CI / validate (pull_request) Failing after 13s

Details

Review Approval Gate / verify-review (pull_request) Failing after 13s

Details

f7f96bc744

Add early-failing check to reject PRs with zero file changes.
This prevents the "rubber-stamping" problem where reviewers
approve empty diffs (0 additions, 0 deletions).

The check runs in the validate job immediately after checkout:
- Counts changed files via git diff --name-only origin/main...HEAD
- Fails if count is zero with clear error message
- Passes with confirmation if PR has real changes

Refs #1445. Addresses Option 1 (CI Validation) from issue triage.
Smallest concrete fix: one new step in existing CI workflow.

Closes #1445

Rockachopa requested review from perplexity 2026-04-30 22:58:43 +00:00

Rockachopa merged commit d4172cea70 into main

2026-05-04 00:13:27 +00:00

Rockachopa referenced this issue from a commit

2026-05-04 00:13:30 +00:00

Merge pull request 'ci: add guard against zero-change PRs (rubber-stamp prevention)' (#1738) from step35/1445-process-prevent-rubber-stamp into main

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Reference: Timmy_Foundation/the-nexus#1738