[Pmwiki-users] What is the *patch file for?

Patrick R. Michaud pmichaud
Mon Dec 6 07:15:41 CST 2004


On Mon, Dec 06, 2004 at 07:50:24AM +0100, Laurent Meister wrote:
> 
> I'm just updating our site to pmwiki2-beta6. Between the different 
> packages is a *patch file. What is it for?  There is no explication.

PmWiki's standard upgrade procedure is to simply install the new
version over an existing one.  This is always true.

However, several administrators have requested that I also make 
"patch" files available as an _alternate_ means of upgrading to new
releases.  This is pretty standard in the unix and open-source development
communities.

A patch file contains only the differences between two releases; 
thus the pmwiki-2.0.beta6.patch file contains only the differences 
between pmwiki-2.0.beta5 and pmwiki-2.0.beta6.  An administrator
running pmwiki-2.0.beta5 can download the patch file, run the "patch"
command on this file, and end up with a pmwiki-2.0.beta6 system.
Also, patch files tend to be smaller than the full package release,
thus they take less time to download.

Patch files are often useful to people working with the PmWiki code,
as it provides a summary of all of the code changes that take place
between releases (for those who know how to read it).

Pm




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