Testing Patches

Potential changes to Spectrum are posted to and discussed on the devel@spectrum-os.org mailing list.

Apply the patch

Find the patch series you want to test on public-inbox.
Navigate to the "permalink" page for any patch in the series.
Copy the Message-Id for the patch, as shown on the permalink page, e.g. 20220511092352.70E54C980@atuin.qyliss.net.
In a checkout of the Spectrum git repository, run nix-shell to enter a shell environment with b4 set up correctly for Spectrum.

Tip
You can manually set up b4 so that it works outside of the Spectrum root’s nix-shell, which allows you to skip this step.
In a checkout of the appropriate git repository (Spectrum or Spectrum Nixpkgs), run b4 am with the patch’s Message-Id to download all the patches in the series into a file.
```
b4 am 20220511092352.70E54C980@atuin.qyliss.net
```
b4 will indicate the file name it has downloaded the patches into with a line like:
```
Writing ./20220424_hi_host_rootfs_fix_weston_hotplugging.mbx
```
Run git am on that file to apply the patches, for example:
```
git am 20220424_hi_host_rootfs_fix_weston_hotplugging.mbx
```

Post your test results

When you’ve tested a patch, it’s really helpful to reply with your test results.

If the patch worked for you, please reply to it and include a line like the following, separated from any reply text:

Tested-by: John Smith <john@example.com>

This format is recognized by tooling, so any lines in this format in patch replies will be automatically included in the commit message when a patch is applied.

It’s also helpful to explain in your reply how you tested the patch, but you don’t have to if it’s obvious. (For example, if a patch is supposed to fix a bug, and you verified that after applying the patch the bug is fixed, just the Tested-by line on its own is enough to indicate that.)

If you found an issue with the patch, do not include a Tested-by line, and instead reply to the patch explaining what you tested, what you expected to happen, and what actually happened.