Building & Submitting a Patch

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Contents

Principle of a patch

The patch is a .diff file. The program which will create this file compares the original file with the modified file and saves in a text file the modifications made to the original file to arrive at the modified file. Example :

  • Original file : 
#include <stdio.h> 
#include <conio.h> 
int main () 
{ 
clrscr ();
puts ("Hello"); 
getch (); 
return(0); 
}
  • Modified file : 
#include <stdio.h> 
#include <conio.h> 
void main () 
{ 
clrscr (); 
puts ("Hello"); 
getch (); 
return; 
}
  • Patch : 
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@ 
#include <stdio.h> 
#include <conio.h> 
-int main ()
+void main () 
{ 
clrscr (); 
puts ("Hello"); 
getch (); 
-return (0);
+return; 
}

The patch indicates that the line "int main ()" was removed then replaced by "void main ()" and the line "return (0)" was replaced by "return".

Creation of a patch under Windows

Now that you've learned the principle, let's do a little practice !

Caution ! A connection ADSL is strongly recommended.

  • First of all, cygwin should be installed. Do the installation leaving everything to default.
  • If you modified only 1 file, launch cygwin then run the command : 
diff -Naur original_file_with_path modified_file_with_path > patch_file_with_path

Example : 

diff -Naur c:/original.c c:/new.c > c:/patch.diff

==> This creates the patch "c:/patch.diff" by comparing the original file "c:/original.c" with the modified file "c:/new.c".

  • If you modified several files, launch cygwin then run : 
diff -Naur original_directory_with_path modified_directory_with_path >  patch_file_with_path

Example : 

diff -Naur c:/original c:/new > c:/patch.diff

==> This creates the patch "c:/patch.diff" by comparing ALL the files of the directory "c:/original" with ALL the files of the directory "c:/new".

Note : Avoid putting useless files in the directory, this makes the patch much bigger and less clear.

Creation of a patch under Linux

It is necessary to have the Mercurial package installed to do this.

  • Download the sources from the GeeXboX Mercurial repository (see This article).
  • Make sure you have the lastest version of the repository: 
hg pull
hg update
  • Set your id (this step needed only once), by creating a file $HOME/.hgrc with the following contents: 
[ui]
username=Firstname Lastname <your@mail.address>
  • Make the desired modifications.
  • If you added files, open a console, go to the directory where the sources are located and run the following command for each file : 
hg add added_file
  • Lastly, open a console, go to the directory where the sources are located and run the following commands: 
hg commit -m "Text that describes what is accomplished with the patch"
hg export tip > patch.diff

Submit the patch to the developers

In order for the developers to integrate your patch in the next version of GeeXboX, you must post the file patch.diff (with a description of what is does) to the mailing list Geexbox-Devel (see Site).

Retrieved from "http://www.geexbox.org/wiki/index.php/Building_%26_Submitting_a_Patch"
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