Comment 15 for bug 180742

* Romeo <email address hidden> [080203 14:15]:
> if i need to obtain original source code (without patches applied) what
> should i do? simply tell "apt-get source xserver-xorg-core" again?

Yes, you could do that. You can also unapply the patch I have provided:

patch -s -p1 -R < ...thepatch...

The -R is for reverse.

> i just can't uderstand how the process of patching works. as i know, it
> replaces some pieces of original source code with new ones. but how it
> determines the version of source, finds position to write patch to?

Open the patch file in a browser. All the information is there.

Lines that start with --- and +++ start a new block and identify the
file to modify. The @@ line tells the patch program where to start
changing code. The + lines are added, the - lines are removed.

> can you give me any links to read more about it?

Well, you should know that the diff program generates diff files. The
most common diff format (of 3 that I know of) is "unified diff" for
which you would run: diff -u old-file new-file

Anyway, I googled, and skipped all the links that talked about microsoft
patches (which BTW are not patches at all) and came across this:

http://stephenjungels.com/jungels.net/articles/diff-patch-ten-minutes.html
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/1237

Have fun.

-Bart