diff --git a/bin/merge b/bin/merge
index 5e9cb5f7643e394c8580e1b800b658c4e61f3efa..2ce295811b42b254488a99fa79835962ffaebe33 100755
--- a/bin/merge
+++ b/bin/merge
@@ -1,15 +1,19 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 function gitlab() {
+  EXPECTED=$1
+  METHOD=$2
+  REQUEST=$3
+  shift 3
   echo "   sending request ..."
-  output="$(curl --write-out "\nHTTP-Code:%{http_code}" -X "$2" -s -H "Private-Token: ${GITLAB_PRIVATE_TOKEN}" "${GITLAB_URL}"/api/v4/"$3" "$@")"
+  output="$(curl --write-out "\nHTTP-Code:%{http_code}" -X "$METHOD" -s -H "Private-Token: ${GITLAB_PRIVATE_TOKEN}" "${GITLAB_URL}"/api/v4/"$REQUEST" "$@")"
   echo "   done"
   result="$(echo "$output" | grep "{")"
   code="$(echo "$output" | grep -m 1 "HTTP-Code:" | cut -d: -f2)"
-  if [[ $code -eq $1 ]]; then
+  if [[ $code -eq $EXPECTED ]]; then
     return
   fi
-  echo "$2 request to $3 did not succeed! Responds with code $code instead of $1"
+  echo "$METHOD request to $REQUEST did not succeed! Responds with code $code instead of $EXPECTED"
   exit 99
 }