Techniques: Patch files

Create a patch file:

• Locate the file we want to change, eg. path/file.json
• Create a copy of the file and edit it in the same directory, eg. path/file.new.json
• Create the diff file by running the program diff, eg.

  diff -u path/file.json path/file.new.json > file.json.diff

• Ensure or change the first lines of the diff file in order to point to the desired files, eg. path/file.json to build/path/file.json
• Apply the patch by running the program patch, eg.

  patch -p0 < file.json.diff

Notes:

• Both programs, diff and patch, should be part of the core programs on any linux distribution
• The -u option specifies that the created file is of unified type
• The -p0 options specifies that the full paths inside the first lines of the diff file should be used

done_