> How can the patch app know what to do to the source files,
> without a list of instructions?

The patch file works like a list of instructions (to replace some lines
in a context with other lines; there are other diff formats which aren't
as useful for patches as unified diffs).

> Or, are you saying I can copy the two
> patches from Parabola, then make whatever changes are necessary (for
> example, change the line numbers to 578-616, instead of 580-619, or
> just copy the changed/removed lines wholesale.)

There is no need to change the line numbers, patch will find the parts
to change from the context (the original lines with the before and after
context) and show the difference in line numbers.  (Patches are rarely
manually modified, they are usually made using diff or various VCS
commands.)

Most changes in source code occur in other functions and just add or
remove lines outside the part included in the patch, so this usually
works (and in other cases it clearly fails with an error).

The kdelibs patch in Parabola had no change since 4.8.0.

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