Dream you're a dev (part 1) - contribute code to Drupal !

Okay, I had a dream... I had a dream that one day I will contribute code to Drupal and I'll be a dev ... YES, A DEV ... a super big milestone in my conquest of the WORLD OF INTERWEBS !!

HAR HAR HAR

Ummmmmm
Okay, let's start with correcting bugs by adding some null checks... don't say it's not real coding... please ... there... I asked you kindly not to say it... please. TT

How to contribute a patch to Drupal

Login to Drupal.org, login to Drupal GIT

Go to the project page, such as https://www.drupal.org/project/webform_validation

Go to version control, select branch, click SHOW button to get the right command

In a temp directory, copy-paste the command, for example
git clone --branch '2.0.x' https://git.drupalcode.org/project/webform_validation.git

then go into that directory
cd webform_validation

if you didn't choose the right branch, you can show all available branches and choose one with checkout, this will automatically update all files
git branch -a
git checkout [branchname]

then create a new "branch" with the command
git checkout -b [issue-number]-[short-description]
for example
git checkout -b 3236539-indentical-values-validation

then make changes

see if your changes are correctly recognized with the command
git diff origin/[branch_name]
for example
git diff origin/2.0.x

then make the patch file with the command
git diff origin/[branch_name] > [patch_name]

patch_name is [project_name]-[short_description]-[issue_number]-[comment_number].patch
example command:
git diff origin/2.0.x > webform_validation-fixes_identical_values_validation_error-3236539-4.patch

upload the patch to the issue and activate automatic testing

when testing is a success, update the issue with a message highlighting the new patch and change the issue status to "needs review"

=> patches are mainly useful for using them on your own system. Drupal has a newish preferred way of making code changes: GIT merge requests.

read my notes on making merge requests here:
https://drupaldope.com/drupal-9/dream-youre-dev-part-2-contribute-code-drupal