Change:
The current documentation is very vague and doesn't explain what can be updated in this way. Can I rename or stop the pod, change number of replicas in RC etc. For example it seems to be impossible to change pod name:
cc
After an in person discussion with we think the docs should point people to the swagger-ui to find if a field is mutable. I'll add this point into the docs.

Discussion:
// Partially update a node using strategic merge patch kubectl patch node k8s-node-1 -p '{"spec":{"unschedulable":true}}' <ins> // Update a container's image; spec.containers[*].name is required because it's a merge key kubectl patch pod valid-pod -p '{"spec":{"containers":[{"name":"kubernetes-serve-hostname","image":"new image"}]}}' </ins> .fi .RE

.PP JSON and YAML formats are accepted. <ins> .PP Please refer to the models in [la]https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/HEAD/docs/api-reference/definitions.html[ra] to find if a field is mutable. </ins> .SH OPTIONS .PP

JSON and YAML formats are accepted. <ins> Please refer to the models in https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/HEAD/docs/api-reference/definitions.html to find if a field is mutable. </ins> ``` kubectl patch RESOURCE NAME -p PATCH ```

// Partially update a node using strategic merge patch kubectl patch node k8s-node-1 -p '{"spec":{"unschedulable":true}}' <ins> // Update a container's image; spec.containers[*].name is required because it's a merge key kubectl patch pod valid-pod -p '{"spec":{"containers":[{"name":"kubernetes-serve-hostname","image":"new image"}]}}' </ins> ``` ### Options

* [kubectl](kubectl.md)	 - kubectl controls the Kubernetes cluster manager <del> ###### Auto generated by spf13/cobra at 2015-07-14 00:11:42.956026887 +0000 UTC </del> <ins> ###### Auto generated by spf13/cobra at 2015-08-01 00:12:16.314479678 +0000 UTC </ins> <!-- BEGIN MUNGE: GENERATED_ANALYTICS -->

JSON and YAML formats are accepted. <ins> Please refer to the models in https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/HEAD/docs/api-reference/definitions.html to find if a field is mutable. </ins> ``` kubectl replace -f FILENAME ```

* [kubectl](kubectl.md)	 - kubectl controls the Kubernetes cluster manager <del> ###### Auto generated by spf13/cobra at 2015-07-16 22:39:16.132838722 +0000 UTC </del> <ins> ###### Auto generated by spf13/cobra at 2015-08-01 00:12:16.314376117 +0000 UTC </ins> <!-- BEGIN MUNGE: GENERATED_ANALYTICS -->

const ( patch_long = `Update field(s) of a resource using strategic merge patch <del> JSON and YAML formats are accepted.` </del> <ins> JSON and YAML formats are accepted. Please refer to the models in https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/HEAD/docs/api-reference/definitions.html to find if a field is mutable.` </ins> patch_example = ` // Partially update a node using strategic merge patch <del> kubectl patch node k8s-node-1 -p '{"spec":{"unschedulable":true}}'` </del> <ins> kubectl patch node k8s-node-1 -p '{"spec":{"unschedulable":true}}' // Update a container's image; spec.containers[*].name is required because it's a merge key kubectl patch pod valid-pod -p '{"spec":{"containers":[{"name":"kubernetes-serve-hostname","image":"new image"}]}}'` </ins> ) func NewCmdPatch(f *cmdutil.Factory, out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {

const ( replace_long = `Replace a resource by filename or stdin. <del> JSON and YAML formats are accepted.` </del> <ins> JSON and YAML formats are accepted. Please refer to the models in https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/HEAD/docs/api-reference/definitions.html to find if a field is mutable.` </ins> replace_example = `// Replace a pod using the data in pod.json. $ kubectl replace -f ./pod.json