Patching sourcs made simple

patching.md

Patching made simple

Summary

• Create old/, new/ and patched/ directories, where patched/ is an exact copy of old/
• Create a patch to be applied to patched/
• Patch patched/ * Test patched/

Step-by-step procedure

For this example, the old version is a zipped release & the new one is git-based:

cd /tmp

(=> move the myOldSources.zip inside /tmp)

old :

unzip myOldSources.zip

mv myOldSources old

new :

git clone git@myServer:repositories/Project.git

mv Project new

remove git files

rm old/.git -rf

rm new/.git -rf

rm new/.gitignore

rm old/.gitignore

create a patch

cp old patched -r

diff -urN --binary old new > patched/YEAR-Month-Day.patch

OR alternatively, for quick check, avoid EOL differences adding -w option :

diff -wurN --binary old new > patched/YEAR-Month-Day.patch

check patch

cd patched

view YEAR-Month-Day.patch

try patch

patch --dry-run --no-backup-if-mismatch -u -p1 < YEAR-Month-Day.patch

OR alternatively, use --binary :

patch --dry-run --binary --no-backup-if-mismatch -u -p1 < YEAR-Month-Day.patch

if ok, apply patch

patch --no-backup-if-mismatch -u -p1 < YEAR-Month-Day.patch