Re: Patches vs complete tarballs....

Mike A. Harris (mharris@ican.net)
Thu, 13 Aug 1998 13:42:03 -0400 (EDT)

On Wed, 12 Aug 1998, Jeroen-bart Engelen wrote:

> > 1. uncompress and untar the original unaltered source into a directory.
> > 2. cd into said directory
> > 3. patch -p2 < patch_file > results
> > 4. examine results
>
> How about using the script, patch-kernel?

Works great.

> > *most* of the files are patched correctly. However, I average about 2 to
> > 3 files per kernel version that fail. If any of you are interested, try to
> > patch
> >
> > 2.0.34 -> 2.0.35 Has FAILURES
> > 2.1.109 -> 2.1.110 Has FAILURES
> > 2.1.110 -> 2.1.111 Has FAILURES
> > 2.1.111 -> 2.1.112 Has FAILURES
> > 2.1.112 -> 2.1.113 Has FAILURES
> > 2.1.113 -> 2.1.114 Only source that patched without failures.
> > 2.1.114 -> 2.1.115 Has FAILURES
>
> I have no experience with the dev-kernels, but all the trouble I ever had
> with patching was with my SB config files.
> After a "make distclean" and then a patch it did work.

If the patches fail, then your system is broken. I have patched
from 2.0.30-2.0.35 one step at a time, I've also patched from
2.1.101 to 2.1.115 one step at a time. All patches worked
flawlessly, so if they fail for you, perhaps you're not using the
latest "patch" or perhaps you're not applying the patches
properly, or you don't have clean source.


> Patching from 2.0.34 to 2.0.35 only posed a problem for me because the
> patch I downloaded was corrupt, I downloaded it again and it worked.
> I'd think that if the patches were incorrect we'd get a hell of a lot more
> complaints on the list.

I agree. The patches work fine for me.

> > Now, I'm willing to admit that I might be doing something wrong. However,
> > if you expect to get the average user to trust using patches to upgrade
> > their kernel, then it is imperative that the patches apply completely and
> > without any errors when applied over an unaltered version of the source.

The patches all apply properly. If they don't it is user error.

RTFM, as it is your friend.

less /usr/src/linux/README

man patch

Or as Yeep suggests, use scripts/patch-kernel.

It works great.

--
Mike A. Harris  -  Computer Consultant  -  Linux advocate


Escape from the confines of Microsoft's operating systems and push your
PC to it's limits with LINUX - a real OS. http://www.redhat.com






-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.altern.org/andrebalsa/doc/lkml-faq.html