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Here are some useful notes on how to handle patches


building patches


applying patches
$ cd my-src/linux/

To test
$ patch --dry-run -Np0 < acpi.patch
For real:
$ patch -p0 < acpi.patch

creating patches 
The following was taken from the method used in nmap

1. Remove temporary files:
    make clean

2. Rename your source tree:
    cd ..
    mv nmap-2.54BETA4 nmap-2.54BETA4-snazzy-feature

3. Unpack the original Nmap source alongside it:
    tar xzf nmap-2.54BETA4.tgz

4. Generate the diffs:
   diff -urNb nmap-2.54BETA4 nmap-2.54BETA4-snazzy-feature > nmap.patch

5. Check the patch and remove any unnecessary patches from the file.

6. If you've added several features, it's best to send them as
   several independent patches if you can.

If you have just patched one or two files, then making patches is even
easier. For each file, just do:

  cp file.c file.c.orig
  [Make changes to file.c ...]
  diff -u file.c.orig file.c > file.c.patch

and just send the patch: file.c.patch.



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