Merge pull request #13926 from nextcloud/backport/13924/stable32

[stable32] feat(applying-patch): improve documentation to also mention git apply as alternative and additional improvements

Author: szaimen

admin_manual/issues/applying_patch.rst

@@ -2,37 +2,60 @@
 Patching Nextcloud
 ==================
 
+Obtaining a patch
+-----------------
+
+If you found a related pull request on GitHub that solves your issue, or you want to help developers and verify a fix works, you can get a patch for the pull request.
+
+1. Using https://github.com/nextcloud/server/pull/26396 as an example.
+2. Append ``.diff`` to the URL: https://github.com/nextcloud/server/pull/26396.diff
+3. Download the patch to your server e.g. via ``wget https://github.com/nextcloud/server/pull/26396.diff`` (this will place ``26396.diff`` in the local directory)
+4. Follow the `Applying a patch`_ steps.
+5. If you are on an older Nextcloud version, you might first need to go to the correct backported patch for your version.
+
+.. image:: images/getting-a-patch-from-github.png
+   :alt: backportbot-nextcloud linking to the pull request for an older version.
+
+6. You can find the appropriate version by looking for a link posted by ``backportbot-nextcloud`` to the backport pull request for your release, or by checking for a developer comment with a manual backport link. Use the ``.diff`` URL of that backport PR.
+
 Applying a patch
 ----------------
 
 Patching server
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-1. Navigate into your Nextcloud server's root directory (contains the ``status.php`` file)
-2. Now apply the patch with the following command::
+1. Navigate to your Nextcloud server's root directory (the one that contains the ``status.php`` file).
+2. Download the patch to your server e.g. via ``wget https://github.com/nextcloud/server/pull/26396.diff`` (this will place ``26396.diff`` in the local directory)
+3. Apply the patch with the following command::
 
-    patch -p 1 < /path/to/the/file.patch
+    patch -p 1 < ./26396.diff
 
-.. note::
+4. Alternatively, if the patch command is not available, use::
 
-   There can be errors about not found files, especially when you take a patch from GitHub there might be development or test files included in the patch. when the files are in build/ or a tests/ subdirectory it is mostly being
+    git apply --check ./26396.diff
+    git apply ./26396.diff
 
 Patching apps
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-1. Navigate to the root of this app (mostly ``apps/[APPID]/``), if you can not find the app there use the ``sudo -E -u www-data php occ app:getpath APPID`` command to find the path.
-2. Now apply the patch with the same command as in `Patching server`_
+1. Navigate to the root of the app (usually ``apps/[APPID]/``). If you cannot find the app there, use the ``sudo -E -u www-data php occ app:getpath APPID`` command to find the path.
+2. Download the patch to your server e.g. via ``wget https://github.com/nextcloud/<app>/pull/26396.diff`` (this will place ``26396.diff`` in the local directory)
+3. Apply the patch with the same command as in `Patching server`_.
 
 Reverting a patch
 -----------------
 
 1. Navigate to the directory where you applied the patch.
 2. Now revert the patch with the ``-R`` option::
 
-    patch -R -p 1 < /path/to/the/file.patch
+    patch -R -p 1 < ./26396.diff
+
+3. Alternatively, if the patch command is not available, use::
+
+    git apply --reverse ./26396.diff
 
-Getting a patch from a GitHub pull request
-------------------------------------------
+Notes and troubleshooting
+-------------------------
 
 If you found a related pull request on GitHub that solves your issue, or you want to help developers and verify a fix works, you can get a patch for the pull request.