Hello Thanks for the reply, but my original question still exists. Here is your answer: 2.1 Create the patch diff -u oldfile newfile > filename.patch or diff -urN /olddir /newdir > filename.patch or diff -urN -X excludes /olddir /newdir > filename.patch diff options: -u Output (default 2) lines of unified context. -r Recursively compare any subdirectories found. -N Treat absent files as empty. -X FILE Exclude files that match any pattern in FILE. Note: The -u options can be replaced with -c to create a context format diff file with a setting of two lines. 2.2 Apply the patch gzip -cd patch.gz | patch -p0 or bzip2 -dc patch.bz2 | patch -p0 or patch -p0 < filename.patch patch options: -p NUM Strip NUM leading components from file names. Here is my original question: > I think this is right. However, it would be great if someone would clear > up the bit > about the target directory. Does the target directory have to called the > same as the > "patched" or "orig" directory? Is there a way to specify or edit the patch > file so > that the end user can have their own custom directory name. For instance, > I used foo and foo.orig, but the end user might have directory names > like foo2 or foo.nfs, etc. > Put another way, in your step 2.2, what is the implied directory name used for the patch? What is the p1 or p0 bit? Is that supposed to somehow strip the leading direcotry name or something? When you issue that comand, are you in the parent directory which owns the kernel directory to be patched or are you in the directory to be patched? eg.: ls /usr/local/ foo foo.orig cd foo patch -p0 < patchfile or ls /usr/local foo foo.orig patchfile patch -p0 < patchfile David Filion <filiond@videotron.ca> on 02/28/2002 11:39:42 AM To: John F Davis/Raleigh/IBM@ibmus cc: dev@trilug.org, kernelnewbies@nl.linux.org Subject: Re: embarrassing patch question John F Davis wrote: > > Hello > > Ok. I've been using patch and I've asked some questions about it on IRC, > but I'm still not > sure about how to use it "CORRECTLY" or in the "PRESCRIBED-METHOD". So, > please correct me. > > I want to create a patch file to give to my co-workers and instructions on > how to use it. > > With that said, here is the scenario: > > I have a original directory called foo.orig and a "up-to-date" directory > called foo.latest. > So, I created a patch file using this syntax: > diff -Naur foo.orig foo.latest > foo.patch > > Then to apply the patch, I did: > patch -p1 foo < foo.patch > or > patch -p1 foo.orig < foo.patch > I can't remember which one I did. > > I think this is right. However, it would be great if someone would clear > up the bit > about the target directory. Does the target directory have to called the > same as the > "patched" or "orig" directory? Is there a way to specify or edit the patch > file so > that the end user can have their own custom directory name. For instance, > I used foo and foo.orig, but the end user might have directory names > like foo2 or foo.nfs, etc. > > JD > > -- > Kernelnewbies: Help each other learn about the Linux kernel. > Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/kernelnewbies/ > IRC Channel: irc.openprojects.net / #kernelnewbies > Web Page: http://www.kernelnewbies.org/ I threw together something a while ago when I was in the same situation, I've included it below. Because we are using Solaris at work, it covers the older and newer versions of diff/patch. HTH David Filion --- Start of doc --- Creating a patch Below is a cheat sheet for creating and applying patch files. For more details about each command, check the commands manpage, info document or try "command --help". 1.0 Using older versions of diff/patch. The older diff/patch utilities don't understand the newer unified format. Thus, the older conext format must be used. Thus the -c option that appears. 1.1 Create the patch diff -c -b -r /original /new > filename.patch diff options: -c Produces a listing of differences with three lines of context. -b Ignores trailing blanks (spaces and tabs) and treats other strings of blanks as equivalent. -r Applies diff recursively to common subdirectories encountered. 1.2 Apply the patch patch -c -l -p1 -d /original < filename.patch patch options: -c Interpret the patch file as a context difference (the output of the command diff when the -c or -C options are specified). -l Cause any sequence of blank characters in the difference script to match any sequence of blank characters in the input file. Other characters will be matched exactly. -d Change the current directory to dir before processing. -p NUM Strip NUM leading components from file names. 2.0 Using newer/GNU diff and patch utilities. Unlike their older counterparts, the newer/GNU versions of diff understand the unified format of patch file. This is the format used by the Linux kernel developers. 2.1 Create the patch diff -u oldfile newfile > filename.patch or diff -urN /olddir /newdir > filename.patch or diff -urN -X excludes /olddir /newdir > filename.patch diff options: -u Output (default 2) lines of unified context. -r Recursively compare any subdirectories found. -N Treat absent files as empty. -X FILE Exclude files that match any pattern in FILE. Note: The -u options can be replaced with -c to create a context format diff file with a setting of two lines. 2.2 Apply the patch gzip -cd patch.gz | patch -p0 or bzip2 -dc patch.bz2 | patch -p0 or patch -p0 < filename.patch patch options: -p NUM Strip NUM leading components from file names. 3.0 Creating a patch using CVS. A patch is created in CVS using the rdiff cvs command. 3.1 Create the patch. o Create a context (default) format diff of release tags rel1 and rel2 for module. cvs rdiff -r rel1 -r rel2 module o Create a unidiff format diff of release tags rel1 and rel2 for module. cvs rdiff -u -r rel1 -r rel2 module cvs rdiff options: -r tag Use revision <tag> -u Use the unidiff format. -c Use the context format (default). Copyright (c) David Filion (filiond@videotron.ca) Created 2001/09/12. -- Kernelnewbies: Help each other learn about the Linux kernel. Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/kernelnewbies/ IRC Channel: irc.openprojects.net / #kernelnewbies Web Page: http://www.kernelnewbies.org/