----- Original Message ----- From: "Craig A. Berry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "John E. Malmberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 03 May 2004 05:59 Subject: GNU diff and patch tips for OpenVMS open source porters (was Re: GNV BASH hacks on 5.8.4-RCI issues.)
> * Replies will be sent through Spamex to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > * For additional info click -> http://www.spamex.com/i/?v=3275065 > > I'm not picking on John, who, by submitting working code changes that > solve real problems has earned himself a free beer if he and I are > ever within walking distance of the same watering hole. I would, > however, like to point out that there are a number of gotchas to be > aware of in creating and applying patches for open source packages, > mostly simple stuff that just happens to be unfamiliar to many VMS > folks. Apologies to those who already know all this, but I'm taking > this opportunity to review what folks working on VMS systems need to > do to create patches using GNU diff and apply those patches using GNU > patch. > > The basic procedure is similar to creating a set of machine-readable > changes via DIFFERENCES/SLP and then applying those changes with the > SUMSLP editor via EDIT/SUM. GNU patch is considerably more flexible > than EDIT/SUM, however. For starters, it can modify any number of > files from one patch, and it can use contextual information to apply > patches to sections of code that are no longer in precisely their > original locations. > > The Perl patching guidelines are here: > > http://www.perldoc.com/perl5.8.0/Porting/patching.html > This was one of the motivations for my module VCS::Lite, which provides cross-platform diff, patch and merge facilities.
