path: root/Documentation/contributing/b4.adoc

= Installing and Configuring b4
:page-parent: Working with Patches
:page-grand_parent: Contributing
:page-nav_order: 1

// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022 Alyssa Ross <hi@alyssa.is>
// SPDX-License-Identifier: GFDL-1.3-no-invariants-or-later OR CC-BY-SA-4.0

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/b4/b4.git/about/[b4] is a utility
for working with patches sent to a mailing list, such as
https://spectrum-os.org/participating.html#spectrum-devel[devel@spectrum-os.org].

== Installing b4

You should be able to install b4 from your package manager.

Using Nix, you can start a shell with b4 available by running:

[listing]
[source,shell]
nix-shell -p b4

== Using b4

Using b4 to fetch and apply a patch from the Spectrum mailing list is
described in the xref:testing-patches.adoc[Testing Patches] how-to guide.