$Id: PATCH-HOWTO,v 1.11 2008-02-16 21:40:56 guppy Exp $

Patch Howto
Last revised: July 23, 2004
    _____________________________________________________________________

                               Patch Howto


  The purpose of this document is to show you what a patch is and how you
  can create, apply, download, and submit a patch.

  Contents:
    1. Terms
    2. Applying a patch
    3. Creating and submitting a patch
    4. Downloading a patch


  1. Terms

    The following are some common terms used in this document:

      Patch
        A patch is an update to the source code of a program (here Eggdrop).
        Be careful, every patch is designed for a special Eggdrop version
        and cannot be applied on every bot!


  2. Applying a patch

    To apply a patch to an Eggdrop, you have to first obtain the Eggdrop
    source code. You should always keep a tar.gz archive with the source of
    your current Eggdrop on your shell. In the next step, you have to change
    to your source directory (i.e.: /home/user/eggdrop1.6.19/) and type
    the following command:

      patch -p1 < ../path.to.the/patch

    Once this is complete, execute the following command:

      find . -name "*.rej" -print

    If it returns a list with filenames ending with .rej extension, then the
    patch didn't apply properly. Ensure that the patch is intended for your
    version and that you have the original source. You should also try to
    re-download the patch to ensure that the patch is not corrupted.

    If you get an error such as this:

      |Index: Makefile.in
      |===================================================================
      |RCS file: /usr/local/cvsroot/eggdrop1.6/Makefile.in,v
      |retrieving revision 1.38
      |diff -u -r1.38 Makefile.in
      |--- Makefile.in	17 Jun 2004 05:43:28 -0000	1.38
      |+++ Makefile.in	23 Jul 2004 21:58:23 -0000
      --------------------------
      File to patch:

    Then you should try using a different '-p' option. Try -p0 first, and then
    -p2, -p3, etc.


    If the patch applied properly, the only thing left to do is to recompile
    your Eggdrop and install the new modules and binaries.


  3. Creating and submitting a patch

    If you fixed a bug and/or changed something in Eggdrop's source code, it
    would be really nice to let the dev team know about it, so we can
    possibly apply it to next release of Eggdrop.

    There are several steps to submit a patch to the eggdev team:

      1. Create a directory with original source tree and one with modified
         source tree.

      2. Run the following:

           diff -urN eggdrop1.6.original eggdrop1.6.modified > patchname.patch

         DO NOT add any other diff options.

      3. Send an e-mail to patches@eggheads.org with the patch attached. The
         body should contain a detailed description of what you changed and
         why you changed it. Don't forget to include the Eggdrop version for
         which your patch was created.

         It helps if you include the major release number that the patch is
         for in the subject line. For the 1.6.x series, the subject line should
         look like this:

           PATCH1.6: my-patch-filename.patch

         You should also include the nick/handle/name you would like to be used
         in the UPDATES1.6 file (if applicable).

      Never modify src/patch.h or one of the UPDATES files. We will do it. If
      your patch includes changes related to autotools (./configure, etc), do
      NOT run autoconf, autoheader, etc; we will do this as well.

      Also, please don't add credit lines all over the source when patching.
      Patch contributors will receive credit in UPDATES1.6 and ChangeLog.

      CVS diff's are also perfectly fine (and actually, prefered, as the patch
      will be against the most current version of Eggdrop). To create a CVS
      diff, simply make the changes in your currently checked-out copy of the
      Eggdrop source, and then run:

        cvs diff -R -uN > patchname.patch


  4. Downloading a patch

    Many patches for Eggdrop 1.6.x can be found at the following location:

      ftp://ftp.eggheads.org/pub/eggdrop/patches/1.6
    _____________________________________________________________________

  Copyright (C) 1999 - 2008 Eggheads Development Team
