---

How To Create and Submit a Patch

---

Stefan Reuter

---

$Id$

How To Create and Submit a Patch

This documents how to create and submit patches for Asterisk-Java.

* Introduction

A patch is exactly what the word says: a small piece of code used to

repair a breach. It is normally a plain text file containing only

the differences between the current version of the code and the

fixed version.

Often patches are also used to submit enhancements.

* Generating a Patch

The preferred way of creating a patch is to create it against latest

development branch. This ensures that the patch works with the latest

version of the source code and makes it easier to apply the patch.

To generate the patch you need to check out a copy of the source code

from SVN. Look a the {{{cvs-usage.html}CVS Howto}} for

the details.

After you have made the changes to the source code and

made sure it compiles and works as expected, you can create the

patch file using the command

+-----------------------------------------+

svn diff > /path/to/patchfile.patch

+-----------------------------------------+

If you do not have access to SVN you can generate the patch against

the latest release.

To generate the patch you will need two copies of the source code:

one that is unmodified and one containing your changes to the source.

Start by downloading the source code of the latest release, extract

it and make a copy of the entire source directory. After you have

made your changes to one of the source directories and made sure it

compiles and works as expected, you can create the patch file using

the command

+-----------------------------------------+

diff -ru /path/to/unmodified/source /path/to/modified/source > /path/to/patchfile.patch

+-----------------------------------------+

* Sending a Patch

The preferred way to submit a patch is via the

{{{http://jira.reucon.com/browse/AJ}Bug Tracker}}.

The patch can be reviewed there in public and other suggestions

can be discussed.