Documentation/applying-patches.txt: convert it to ReST markup

Applying Patches To The Linux Kernel

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	Original by: Jesper Juhl, August 2005

	Last update: 2006-01-05

Original by:

	Jesper Juhl, August 2005

Last update:

	2006-01-05

A frequently asked question on the Linux Kernel Mailing List is how to apply

What is a patch?

---

================

A patch is a small text document containing a delta of changes between two

different versions of a source tree. Patches are created with the `diff'

different versions of a source tree. Patches are created with the ``diff``

program.

To correctly apply a patch you need to know what base it was generated from

and what new version the patch will change the source tree into. These

should both be present in the patch file metadata or be possible to deduce

How do I apply or revert a patch?

---

 You apply a patch with the `patch' program. The patch program reads a diff

=================================

You apply a patch with the ``patch`` program. The patch program reads a diff

(or patch) file and makes the changes to the source tree described in it.

Patches for the Linux kernel are generated relative to the parent directory

This means that paths to files inside the patch file contain the name of the

kernel source directories it was generated against (or some other directory

names like "a/" and "b/").

Since this is unlikely to match the name of the kernel source dir on your

local machine (but is often useful info to see what version an otherwise

unlabeled patch was generated against) you should change into your kernel

source directory and then strip the first element of the path from filenames

in the patch file when applying it (the -p1 argument to `patch' does this).

in the patch file when applying it (the ``-p1`` argument to ``patch`` does

this).

To revert a previously applied patch, use the -R argument to patch.

So, if you applied a patch like this:

::

	patch -p1 < ../patch-x.y.z

You can revert (undo) it like this:

::

	patch -R -p1 < ../patch-x.y.z

How do I feed a patch/diff file to `patch'?

---

How do I feed a patch/diff file to ``patch``?

=============================================

This (as usual with Linux and other UNIX like operating systems) can be

done in several different ways.

In all the examples below I feed the file (in uncompressed form) to patch

via stdin using the following syntax:

::

	patch -p1 < path/to/patch-x.y.z

If you just want to be able to follow the examples below and don't want to

Patch can also get the name of the file to use via the -i argument, like

this:

::

	patch -p1 -i path/to/patch-x.y.z

If your patch file is compressed with gzip or bzip2 and you don't want to

uncompress it before applying it, then you can feed it to patch like this

instead:

::

	zcat path/to/patch-x.y.z.gz | patch -p1

	bzcat path/to/patch-x.y.z.bz2 | patch -p1

If you wish to uncompress the patch file by hand first before applying it

(what I assume you've done in the examples below), then you simply run

gunzip or bunzip2 on the file -- like this:

::

	gunzip patch-x.y.z.gz

	bunzip2 patch-x.y.z.bz2

Which will leave you with a plain text patch-x.y.z file that you can feed to

patch via stdin or the -i argument, as you prefer.

patch via stdin or the ``-i`` argument, as you prefer.

A few other nice arguments for patch are -s which causes patch to be silent

A few other nice arguments for patch are ``-s`` which causes patch to be silent

except for errors which is nice to prevent errors from scrolling out of the

screen too fast, and --dry-run which causes patch to just print a listing of

what would happen, but doesn't actually make any changes. Finally --verbose

screen too fast, and ``--dry-run`` which causes patch to just print a listing of

what would happen, but doesn't actually make any changes. Finally ``--verbose``

tells patch to print more information about the work being done.

Common errors when patching

---

===========================

When patch applies a patch file it attempts to verify the sanity of the

file in different ways.

Checking that the file looks like a valid patch file and checking the code

around the bits being modified matches the context provided in the patch are

just two of the basic sanity checks patch does.

usually adjust the line numbers and apply the patch.

Whenever patch applies a patch that it had to modify a bit to make it fit

it'll tell you about it by saying the patch applied with 'fuzz'.

it'll tell you about it by saying the patch applied with **fuzz**.

You should be wary of such changes since even though patch probably got it

right it doesn't /always/ get it right, and the result will sometimes be

wrong.

When patch encounters a change that it can't fix up with fuzz it rejects it

outright and leaves a file with a .rej extension (a reject file). You can

outright and leaves a file with a ``.rej`` extension (a reject file). You can

read this file to see exactly what change couldn't be applied, so you can

go fix it up by hand if you wish.

Let's look a bit more at some of the messages patch can produce.

If patch stops and presents a "File to patch:" prompt, then patch could not

If patch stops and presents a ``File to patch:`` prompt, then patch could not

find a file to be patched. Most likely you forgot to specify -p1 or you are

in the wrong directory. Less often, you'll find patches that need to be

applied with -p0 instead of -p1 (reading the patch file should reveal if

applied with ``-p0`` instead of ``-p1`` (reading the patch file should reveal if

this is the case -- if so, then this is an error by the person who created

the patch but is not fatal).

If you get "Hunk #2 succeeded at 1887 with fuzz 2 (offset 7 lines)." or a

If you get ``Hunk #2 succeeded at 1887 with fuzz 2 (offset 7 lines).`` or a

message similar to that, then it means that patch had to adjust the location

of the change (in this example it needed to move 7 lines from where it

expected to make the change to make it fit).

The resulting file may or may not be OK, depending on the reason the file

was different than expected.

This often happens if you try to apply a patch that was generated against a

different kernel version than the one you are trying to patch.

If you get a message like "Hunk #3 FAILED at 2387.", then it means that the

If you get a message like ``Hunk #3 FAILED at 2387.``, then it means that the

patch could not be applied correctly and the patch program was unable to

fuzz its way through. This will generate a .rej file with the change that

caused the patch to fail and also a .orig file showing you the original

fuzz its way through. This will generate a ``.rej`` file with the change that

caused the patch to fail and also a ``.orig`` file showing you the original

content that couldn't be changed.

If you get "Reversed (or previously applied) patch detected!  Assume -R? [n]"

If you get ``Reversed (or previously applied) patch detected!  Assume -R? [n]``

then patch detected that the change contained in the patch seems to have

already been made.

If you actually did apply this patch previously and you just re-applied it

in error, then just say [n]o and abort this patch. If you applied this patch

previously and actually intended to revert it, but forgot to specify -R,

then you can say [y]es here to make patch revert it for you.

then you can say [**y**]es here to make patch revert it for you.

This can also happen if the creator of the patch reversed the source and

destination directories when creating the patch, and in that case reverting

the patch will in fact apply it.

A message similar to "patch: **** unexpected end of file in patch" or "patch

unexpectedly ends in middle of line" means that patch could make no sense of

the file you fed to it. Either your download is broken, you tried to feed

patch a compressed patch file without uncompressing it first, or the patch

A message similar to ``patch: **** unexpected end of file in patch`` or

``patch unexpectedly ends in middle of line`` means that patch could make no

sense of the file you fed to it. Either your download is broken, you tried to

feed patch a compressed patch file without uncompressing it first, or the patch

file that you are using has been mangled by a mail client or mail transfer

agent along the way somewhere, e.g., by splitting a long line into two lines.

Often these warnings can easily be fixed by joining (concatenating) the

wish to apply.

Are there any alternatives to `patch'?

---

Are there any alternatives to ``patch``?

========================================

Yes there are alternatives.

 You can use the `interdiff' program (http://cyberelk.net/tim/patchutils/) to

You can use the ``interdiff`` program (http://cyberelk.net/tim/patchutils/) to

generate a patch representing the differences between two patches and then

apply the result.

This will let you move from something like 2.6.12.2 to 2.6.12.3 in a single

step. The -z flag to interdiff will even let you feed it patches in gzip or

bzip2 compressed form directly without the use of zcat or bzcat or manual

decompression.

Here's how you'd go from 2.6.12.2 to 2.6.12.3 in a single step:

::

	interdiff -z ../patch-2.6.12.2.bz2 ../patch-2.6.12.3.gz | patch -p1

Although interdiff may save you a step or two you are generally advised to

do the additional steps since interdiff can get things wrong in some cases.

 Another alternative is `ketchup', which is a python script for automatic

Another alternative is ``ketchup``, which is a python script for automatic

downloading and applying of patches (http://www.selenic.com/ketchup/).

Other nice tools are diffstat, which shows a summary of changes made by a

Where can I download the patches?

---

=================================

The patches are available at http://kernel.org/

Most recent patches are linked from the front page, but they also have

specific homes.

The 2.6.x.y (-stable) and 2.6.x patches live at

	ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/

The -rc patches live at

	ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/testing/

The -git patches live at

	ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/snapshots/

The -mm kernels live at

	ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/akpm/patches/2.6/

In place of ftp.kernel.org you can use ftp.cc.kernel.org, where cc is a

In place of ``ftp.kernel.org`` you can use ``ftp.cc.kernel.org``, where cc is a

country code. This way you'll be downloading from a mirror site that's most

likely geographically closer to you, resulting in faster downloads for you,

less bandwidth used globally and less load on the main kernel.org servers --

The 2.6.x kernels

---

=================

These are the base stable releases released by Linus. The highest numbered

release is the most recent.

previous 2.6.x kernel and the new one.

To apply a patch moving from 2.6.11 to 2.6.12, you'd do the following (note

that such patches do *NOT* apply on top of 2.6.x.y kernels but on top of the

that such patches do **NOT** apply on top of 2.6.x.y kernels but on top of the

base 2.6.x kernel -- if you need to move from 2.6.x.y to 2.6.x+1 you need to

first revert the 2.6.x.y patch).

Here are some examples:

::

	# moving from 2.6.11 to 2.6.12

	$ cd ~/linux-2.6.11			# change to kernel source dir

	$ patch -p1 < ../patch-2.6.12		# apply the 2.6.12 patch

The 2.6.x.y kernels

---

===================

Kernels with 4-digit versions are -stable kernels. They contain small(ish)

critical fixes for security problems or significant regressions discovered

in a given 2.6.x kernel.

If no 2.6.x.y kernel is available, then the highest numbered 2.6.x kernel is

the current stable kernel.

 note: the -stable team usually do make incremental patches available as well

.. note::

 The -stable team usually do make incremental patches available as well

 as patches against the latest mainline release, but I only cover the

 non-incremental ones below. The incremental ones can be found at

 ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/incr/

These patches are not incremental, meaning that for example the 2.6.12.3

patch does not apply on top of the 2.6.12.2 kernel source, but rather on top

of the base 2.6.12 kernel source.

So, in order to apply the 2.6.12.3 patch to your existing 2.6.12.2 kernel

source you have to first back out the 2.6.12.2 patch (so you are left with a

base 2.6.12 kernel source) and then apply the new 2.6.12.3 patch.

Here's a small example:

$ cd ~/linux-2.6.12.2			# change into the kernel source dir

::

	$ cd ~/linux-2.6.12.2			# change to the kernel source dir

	$ patch -p1 -R < ../patch-2.6.12.2	# revert the 2.6.12.2 patch

	$ patch -p1 < ../patch-2.6.12.3		# apply the new 2.6.12.3 patch

	$ cd ..

	$ mv linux-2.6.12.2 linux-2.6.12.3	# rename the kernel source dir

The -rc kernels

---

===============

These are release-candidate kernels. These are development kernels released

by Linus whenever he deems the current git (the kernel's source management

tool) tree to be in a reasonably sane state adequate for testing.

like the 2.6.x.y patches described above. The kernel version before the -rcN

suffix denotes the version of the kernel that this -rc kernel will eventually

turn into.

So, 2.6.13-rc5 means that this is the fifth release candidate for the 2.6.13

kernel and the patch should be applied on top of the 2.6.12 kernel source.

Here are 3 examples of how to apply these patches:

::

	# first an example of moving from 2.6.12 to 2.6.13-rc3

$ cd ~/linux-2.6.12			# change into the 2.6.12 source dir

	$ cd ~/linux-2.6.12			# change to the 2.6.12 source dir

	$ patch -p1 < ../patch-2.6.13-rc3	# apply the 2.6.13-rc3 patch

	$ cd ..

	$ mv linux-2.6.12 linux-2.6.13-rc3	# rename the source dir

	# now let's move from 2.6.13-rc3 to 2.6.13-rc5

$ cd ~/linux-2.6.13-rc3			# change into the 2.6.13-rc3 dir

	$ cd ~/linux-2.6.13-rc3			# change to the 2.6.13-rc3 dir

	$ patch -p1 -R < ../patch-2.6.13-rc3	# revert the 2.6.13-rc3 patch

	$ patch -p1 < ../patch-2.6.13-rc5	# apply the new 2.6.13-rc5 patch

	$ cd ..

The -git kernels

---

================

These are daily snapshots of Linus' kernel tree (managed in a git

repository, hence the name).

Here are some examples of how to apply these patches:

::

	# moving from 2.6.12 to 2.6.12-git1

	$ cd ~/linux-2.6.12			# change to the kernel source dir

	$ patch -p1 < ../patch-2.6.12-git1	# apply the 2.6.12-git1 patch

The -mm kernels

---

===============

These are experimental kernels released by Andrew Morton.

The -mm tree serves as a sort of proving ground for new features and other

experimental patches.

Once a patch has proved its worth in -mm for a while Andrew pushes it on to

Linus for inclusion in mainline.

Although it's encouraged that patches flow to Linus via the -mm tree, this

is not always enforced.

Subsystem maintainers (or individuals) sometimes push their patches directly

to Linus, even though (or after) they have been merged and tested in -mm (or

sometimes even without prior testing in -mm).

tree is to weed out regressions, crashes, data corruption bugs, build

breakage (and any other bug in general) before changes are merged into the

more stable mainline Linus tree.

But testers of -mm should be aware that breakage in this tree is more common

than in any other tree.

The -mm kernels are not released on a fixed schedule, but usually a few -mm

kernels are released in between each -rc kernel (1 to 3 is common).

The -mm kernels apply to either a base 2.6.x kernel (when no -rc kernels

have been released yet) or to a Linus -rc kernel.

Here are some examples of applying the -mm patches:

::

	# moving from 2.6.12 to 2.6.12-mm1

	$ cd ~/linux-2.6.12			# change to the 2.6.12 source dir

	$ patch -p1 < ../2.6.12-mm1		# apply the 2.6.12-mm1 patch