3.4.7 Applying remote patches

TODO: Explain how to determine if a patch was created with git format-patch.

Well-formed git patches created with git format-patch should be committed with the following command:

git am patch

Patches created without git format-patch can be applied in two steps. The first step is to apply the patch to the working tree and the index:

git apply --index patch

The second step is to commit the changes and give credit to the author of the patch. This can be done with the following command:

git commit --author="John Smith <john@example.com>"

Please note that using the --index option for patching is quite important here and cannot reliably be replaced by using the -a option when committing: that would only commit files from the working tree that are already registered with git, so every file that the patch actually adds, like a regtest for a fixed bug, would get lost. For the same reason, you should not use the git-independent ‘patch’ program for applying patches.


LilyPond — Contributor’s Guide v2.18.2 (stable-branch).