Best Way to Submit a Patch

Best Way to Submit a Patch

[Ian Barton]

I would like to submit some patches for the documentation. Whilst I 
understand how to make a patch file, what should I be patching against? 
I am running a clone of the git repo, so  presume I can somehow use git 
to create patches. Can someone point me to the documentation on how to 
get started?

I guess my first contribution should be "How to submit a patch" :)

Ian.

Re: Best Way to Submit a Patch

[Carsten Dominik]

Hi Ian,

there is lots of GIT documentation on the web.  Here is a short way to  
do what you want.



1. get the latest changes

    git pull

2. create a branch for you to do your changes

    git checkout -b my-doc-fixed

3. Edit the file you want to change

    $ emacs ....
    $ emacs ....

4. Commit the changes when you feel like it

    git add doc/org.texi
    git commit

5. Create a patch

    git diff master > send-to-carsten.patch

6. Go back t the master branch for normal use of Org-mode.
    Do this only after committing all changes.

    git checkout master

This all works fine when you don't pull new changes while
working on your patch.  If Org changes while you do your work,
you can do this:

- commit your changes as described above.
- switch back to master

   git checkout master

- get new changes

   git pull

- return to your branch

   git checkout my-doc-fixes

- make sure your changes are made relative to the current, new master:

   git rebase master

- continue working on your patches.

The only problem here is that git rebase can fail if there is overlap,
so my recommendation for he beginner is to just use the workflow
shown above.

- Carsten

P.S.  I am *not* a GIT guru, I hope others will correct me if anything  
should be done differently.







On Dec 14, 2008, at 4:57 PM, Ian Barton wrote:

> I would like to submit some patches for the documentation. Whilst I  
> understand how to make a patch file, what should I be patching  
> against? I am running a clone of the git repo, so  presume I can  
> somehow use git to create patches. Can someone point me to the  
> documentation on how to get started?
>
> I guess my first contribution should be "How to submit a patch" :)
>
> Ian.
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Remember: use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode

Re: Best Way to Submit a Patch

[Ian Barton]

> there is lots of GIT documentation on the web.  Here is a short way to 
> do what you want.
> 
> 
Thanks Carsten. You are right, there is lots of stuff about git. 
However, this makes it hard to find the relevant bits. Still I shouldn't 
complain about something having too much documentation:)

I'll use your first method and put together some patches over the 
Christmas period.

Best wishes,

Ian.

Re: Best Way to Submit a Patch

[Jeff Mickey]

I just wanted to make the addition that for emailing patches around,
git has a lot of decent tools.

`git-format-patch origin` will generate patch files for all commits
that aren't in origin yet... it will also give you the commit
messages/diffstats/etc in the patches.[1]

`git-send-email <patch files>` will send the email off for you with
the patches included.  This is best to set up with git-config for repo
specific settings.[2]

And to Carsten, when you receive patches you want to check into your
git branch, use git-am on the emails.[3]

  //  jeff

[1]: http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-format-patch.html
[2]: http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
[3]: http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-am.html