Probably a simple, frequently asked question, but I don't see an obvious answer in the documentation. When looking at issues in Moodle Tracker, it's not always clear to me whether or not a patch is available to be applied immediately. Some issues contain attachments, but I can't tell if the files are intended for end-user consumption. I've applied some .diff files, but my impression is that .patch files are only intended to be used by the development team maintaining the CVS code. Some issues contain multiple attachments or files with various other extensions, making it even harder to understand. From the Moodle Tracker fields, I can tell if the issue is fixed, but from that information alone, I can't tell if the fix is available now or only by upgrading. Is there a simple way to decipher all this?
As a rule of thumb, tracker attachments probably should not be considered for end-user consumption. You probably should not apply patches unless you understand the code that the patch is modifying. Even if you have the final patch that was applied to Moodle to fix the code, there's no guarantees that it doesn't depend on some other patches that were applied previously, so unless you know what you're doing (or are willing to experiment), it's probably best to stick to released versions (or even the weekly snapshots).