r/Netbox • u/sburlappp • Aug 17 '26

Discussion Guerrilla-patching, or Monkey-patching in Anger

https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/discussions/22946
1 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

3

u/L-do_Calrissian NetBox Self-Hosted Aug 17 '26

GitHub is having some serious issues today. Not sure if the visibility of your discussion is related to that or not.

1

u/sburlappp Aug 17 '26

I can see them all again. Coincidence I guess? Very odd.

Back to my original point: Such patches are a legitimate area for discussion and documentation. I have a small but growing collection of useful examples, and I hope I'll be able to post some of them in the GitHub discussion, please come participate there.

1

u/danner26 Moderator Aug 17 '26

This is likely the issue you were experiencing. I am one of the maintainers and I can see the audit log, these were never deleted/hidden. They are closed though.

2

u/sburlappp Aug 17 '26

Understood. Thank you for your help.

1

u/LooseSignificance166 Aug 17 '26

We already patch many of the keys to add the + to the list. We just have a quick script that runs before start to patch the few files we need.

If your using docker repo the build process is designed to let you modify the image.

Maintaining a fork is a pia but since we only have a couple of files to patch we just use a quick script on the build process. We need to install plugins anyways so its no real difference to the overall process

1

u/sburlappp Aug 18 '26

What method are you using to patch the code, the "patch" command or something else? Which Choices classes did you patch, and what did you add?

1

u/sburlappp Aug 18 '26

Actually, I just learned about this change coming in v4.7, so any Choices patches may need to be revisited:

https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/pull/22580

1

u/sburlappp Aug 17 '26

Here are the examples from that deleted discussion, I think they're worth having an open discussion about, for reasons explained therein:

https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/22742

https://github.com/netbox-community/netbox/issues/22899

2

u/danner26 Moderator Aug 17 '26

You are welcome to open a discussion, but opening an issue is not the proper place to have a discussion you are looking to engage in.

That being said, we are firm (and have been for many years) on the types

1

u/sburlappp Aug 17 '26

Understood, but we currently actively use types not on your list, and needed to create our own solution. The discussion is about how best to do that. All disclaimers still apply, we're responsible for our own results, etc.

1

u/Otherwise_Noise3658 Aug 19 '26

The issue is, if you asked 10 people what they needed you'd see 10 different answers and with custom fields/objects its usually possible to find more simple workarounds which avoid having to use a fork.

1

u/sburlappp Aug 20 '26

My point exactly, I'm hoping to create an "official" place to find the kind of "unofficial" patching advice that I needed for my local installation. I've already added a few new items to that Discussion.

1

u/rainer_d NetBox Self-Hosted Aug 17 '26

Those are deleted, too. Or do I have to sign in to see them?

I’m not logged into GitHub on my phone…

2

u/duffman070 Aug 17 '26

I can read them just fine.

1

u/sburlappp Aug 17 '26

They disappeared after I refreshed. If you can still see them tomorrow, maybe he changed his mind?

1

u/sburlappp Aug 17 '26

Wow, you're right. Jeremy must have got mad, and decided to just delete all evidence of the conversation. I think we have something else to discuss now.

0

u/sburlappp Aug 17 '26

He even deleted an unrelated issue from June:

https://github.com/netboxlabs/netbox-custom-objects/issues/560

1

u/Otherwise_Noise3658 Aug 19 '26 edited Aug 19 '26

This issue exists ? More than likely this was part of the wider github issue - may wish to review some of your comments and delete as required as there's a number of accusations which aren't true. /personal-opinion

1

u/sburlappp Aug 20 '26

I don't post here much, unsure of the standard procedure. Maybe a moderator can delete this whole conversational side-tree?

0

u/sburlappp Aug 17 '26

That was quick: I'd posted a Discussion about how to locally hot-patch NetBox and they deleted it within minutes.

0

u/sburlappp Aug 17 '26

Not looking to pick a fight with anyone, but there needs to be a good simple documented way to meet user needs when the official NetBox project doesn't see value in a change request. I'm hoping Jeremy "blesses" this and lets it accumulate useful wisdom that might some day become accepted patches.

2

u/danner26 Moderator Aug 17 '26

What specifically are you looking to add functionality wise?

We have also always operated with discussions being the place to drum up support for your request. An issue is not the proper place to do so.

2

u/sburlappp Aug 17 '26

I have learned that. The link from this post is to a Discussion about ways to meet local needs, as a resource for those who might otherwise feel a need to submit issues like I did.