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+# Issue closing pattern
+
+When a commit or merge request resolves one or more issues, it is possible to
+automatically have these issues closed when the commit or merge request lands
+in the project's default branch.
+
+If a commit message or merge request description contains a sentence matching
+a certain regular expression, all issues referenced from the matched text will
+be closed. This happens when the commit is pushed to a project's **default**
+branch, or when a commit or merge request is merged into it.
+
+## Default closing pattern value
+
+When not specified, the default issue closing pattern as shown below will be
+used:
+
+```bash
+((?:[Cc]los(?:e[sd]?|ing)|[Ff]ix(?:e[sd]|ing)?|[Rr]esolv(?:e[sd]?|ing))(:?) +(?:(?:issues? +)?%{issue_ref}(?:(?:, *| +and +)?)|([A-Z][A-Z0-9_]+-\d+))+)
+```
+
+Note that `%{issue_ref}` is a complex regular expression defined inside GitLab's
+source code that can match a reference to 1) a local issue (`#123`),
+2) a cross-project issue (`group/project#123`) or 3) a link to an issue
+(`https://gitlab.example.com/group/project/issues/123`).
+
+---
+
+This translates to the following keywords:
+
+- Close, Closes, Closed, Closing, close, closes, closed, closing
+- Fix, Fixes, Fixed, Fixing, fix, fixes, fixed, fixing
+- Resolve, Resolves, Resolved, Resolving, resolve, resolves, resolved, resolving
+
+---
+
+For example the following commit message:
+
+```
+Awesome commit message
+
+Fix #20, Fixes #21 and Closes group/otherproject#22.
+This commit is also related to #17 and fixes #18, #19
+and https://gitlab.example.com/group/otherproject/issues/23.
+```
+
+will close `#18`, `#19`, `#20`, and `#21` in the project this commit is pushed
+to, as well as `#22` and `#23` in group/otherproject. `#17` won't be closed as
+it does not match the pattern. It works with multiline commit messages as well
+as one-liners when used with `git commit -m`.
+
+## Change the issue closing pattern
+
+In order to change the pattern you need to have access to the server that GitLab
+is installed on.
+
+> **Tip:**
+You are advised to use http://rubular.com to test the issue closing pattern.
+Because Rubular doesn't understand `%{issue_ref}`, you can replace this by
+`#\d+` when testing your patterns, which matches only local issue references
+like `#123`.
+
+**For Omnibus installations**
+
+1. Open `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` with your editor.
+1. Change the value of `gitlab_rails['issue_closing_pattern']` to a regular
+   expression of your liking:
+
+    ```ruby
+    gitlab_rails['issue_closing_pattern'] = "((?:[Cc]los(?:e[sd]|ing)|[Ff]ix(?:e[sd]|ing)?) +(?:(?:issues? +)?%{issue_ref}(?:(?:, *| +and +)?))+)"
+    ```
+1. [Reconfigure] GitLab for the changes to take effect.
+
+**For installations from source**
+
+1. Open [gitlab.yml][0] with your editor.
+1. Change the value of `issue_closing_pattern`:
+
+    ```yaml
+    issue_closing_pattern: "((?:[Cc]los(?:e[sd]|ing)|[Ff]ix(?:e[sd]|ing)?) +(?:(?:issues? +)?%{issue_ref}(?:(?:, *| +and +)?))+)"
+    ```
+
+1. [Restart] GitLab for the changes to take effect.
+
+[0]: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/blob/master/config/gitlab.yml.example
+[1]: http://rubular.com/r/Xmbexed1OJ
+[reconfigure]: restart_gitlab.md#omnibus-gitlab-reconfigure
+[restart]: restart_gitlab.md#installations-from-source