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[svn] Explained what patches are. Added more information about the use

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@ -1,65 +1,95 @@
* Guidelines for patch submissions.
===================================
** What is a patch?
-------------------
A patch file, also known as a "diff", is a textual representation of
changes to source code. Patches are readable enough to be reviewed by
humans and at the same time regular enough to be processed by
programs. The `patch' utility is used to change the source code in
the manner that the patch describes, this being called "applying" the
patch. Patches work even on files that have been modified
independently of the modifications in the patch, as long as those
other changes do not conflict with the patch.
Because of these properties, patches are the preferred means of
distributing the changes to a free software project. If you have made
a change to Wget and would like to contribute it, you will need to
create a patch and send it to the developers; please read on.
** Where to send the patches.
-----------------------------
Patches intended to be applied to Wget should be mailed to
<wget-patches@sunsite.dk>. Each patch will be reviewed by the
developers, and will be acked and added to the distribution, or
rejected with an explanation.
rejected with an explanation. Unfortunately, the developers are often
busy with their day jobs, so the review process can take a while.
If you want to discuss your patch with the community of Wget users and
developers, it is OK to send it to the general list at
<wget@sunsite.dk>. If the patch is really huge (more than 100K or
so), you may want to put it on the web and post the URL.
developers, it is OK to send it to the main list at <wget@sunsite.dk>.
If the patch is really huge (more than 100K or so), you may want to
put it on the web and post the URL.
EVERY patch should be accompanied by an explanation of what the patch
changes, and why the change is necessary. The explanation need not be
long, but please don't just send a patch without any text.
changes, and why the change is desirable or necessary. The
explanation need not be long, but please don't just send a patch
without any accompanying text.
Normally, a patch can be just inserted into the message, after the
explanation and the ChangeLog entry. However, if your mail composer
or gateway is inclined to munge patches, e.g. by line-wrapping them,
or gateway is inclined to munge patches, e.g. by wrapping long lines,
please send them out as a MIME attachment. It is important that the
patch survives the travel so that we can feed it to the `patch'
utility after reviewing it.
patch survives the travel unchanged so that we can feed it to the
`patch' utility after reviewing it.
** How to create patches.
-------------------------
First, make sure you get the latest version of the source. This is
normally the latest release. If you're adding a new feature, or
changing the code in some major way, you might want to download the
latest sources from the CVS server. This procedure is described at
<http://sunsite.dk/wget/>.
First, please make sure that you are working with the latest version
of the source -- changing obsolete code is a waste of time. Working
on the latest release is acceptable in most cases, but it is better
yet to download the very latest sources from the public CVS server and
work on those. The web page at <http://sunsite.dk/wget/> explains
what CVS is and how to check out Wget's source code from the public
repository.
Patches are created using the `diff' utility. When making patches,
Patches are created using the `diff' program. When making patches,
please use the `-u' option, or if your diff doesn't support it, `-c'.
Using ordinary (context-free) diffs are notoriously prone to error,
since line numbers tend to change when others make changes to the same
Ordinary (context-free) diffs are notoriously prone to errors, since
line numbers tend to change when others make changes to the same
source file.
An example of the `diff' usage:
In the general case, `diff' is used like this:
diff -u OLDFILE NEWFILE
-or-
diff -c OLDFILE NEWFILE
diff -u ORIGFILE CHANGEDFILE > patch.txt
Also, it is helpful if you create the patch in the top level of
the Wget source directory:
the Wget source directory. For example:
$ cp src/http.c src/http.c.orig
...hack, hack, hack....
$ diff -u src/http.c.orig src/http.c
cp src/http.c src/http.c.orig
... modify src/http.c ....
diff -u src/http.c.orig src/http.c > patch.txt
If your patch changes more than one file, the output of all the diff
invocations should be concatenated to form a single patch.
Alternatively, you can use the `-r' option to compare entire
directories. If you do that, be careful not to include the
differences to automatically generated files, such as `.info*'.
If your patch changes more than one file, feel free to simply
concatenate the diffs of different files into a large diff:
(diff -u foo.orig foo; diff -u bar.orig bar) > patch.txt
The alternative is to leave the unchanged source lying around and use
the `-r' option to compare entire directories:
diff -ru wget-1.9.orig wget-1.9 > patch.txt
If you do that, please be careful not to include the differences to
automatically generated files, such as `.info*'.
If you are using CVS, generating diffs is much simpler -- after
changing the files, all you need to do is run the following command
from Wget's top-level directory:
cvs diff -u > patch.txt
If you run on Windows and don't have `diff' handy, please get one.
It's extremely hard to review changes to files unless they're in the
@ -80,12 +110,13 @@ Wget abides by the GNU coding standards, available at:
http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards.html
To me the most important single point in that entire document is "no
arbitrary limits". Even when Wget's coding is less than exemplary, it
respects that rule. There should be no exceptions.
I consider perhaps the most important single point in that entire
document to be the "no arbitrary limits" rule. Even where Wget's
coding is less than exemplary, it respects that rule. There should be
no exceptions.
Here is a short recap of the GNU formatting and naming conventions,
borrowed from XEmacs:
partly borrowed from XEmacs:
* Put a space after every comma.
@ -120,11 +151,11 @@ borrowed from XEmacs:
--------------------
Each patch should be accompanied by an update to the appropriate
ChangeLog file. Please don't mail patches to ChangeLog because they
have an extremely high rate of failure; just mail us the new part of
the ChangeLog you added. Patches without a ChangeLog entry will be
accepted, but this creates additional work for the maintainers, so
please do write the ChangeLog entries.
ChangeLog file. Please don't mail diffs of ChangeLog files because
they have an extremely high rate of failure; just mail us the new
entries you added to the ChangeLog. Patches without a ChangeLog entry
will be accepted, but this creates additional work for the
maintainers, so please do take the time to write one.
Guidelines for writing ChangeLog entries are also governed by the GNU
coding standards, under the "Change Logs" section.