snippets/8-git-uformat-patch

Managing patches for package sources with Git

You're working on a package release for a software distribution, but you must apply some patches to the distribution package sources for the packaging to succeed.

You have checked out two repositories:

• a repository containing the source code of software you're packaging,
• a repository containing the distribution package sources (package spec, etc.), referencing the software source code

You start patching files inside the build directory of the package.

Once the patch works, you commit it to the software sources.

Then use git-uformat-patch to generate patch files of the commits you've made to the software sources and store them in the distribution package's sources.

Clean the build directory and rerun the build after applying the patches through the patch files you've just created. Rebasing, etc. works through the same mechanism.

The patches are a shadow of the source code commits.

This way, you can

• manage patches atomically through Git,
• and prepare patches for upstream merge requests to the sources early, while maintaining focus on packaging

Whether learning along the way and looking for tutoring by the software author, or quickly making patches redundant through approved merge requests, atomicity in patch management through Git allows to give concise historic context.

If you're packaging version 6 of some software, you would create patch files for all commits between now and the release tag in the software sources of the version you are packaging:

/source-repo $> sh git-uformat-patch.sh -o /distro-repo HEAD...v6

/distro-repo $> patch -i ./*.patch

But you can also create patch files for only the top 3 commits:

/source-repo $> GITLOGOPTS='-3' sh git-uformat-patch.sh -o /distro-repo HEAD...v6

Run sh git-uformat-patch.sh -h, for more information.