Tracking Changes in Source Packages: debdiff
and interdiff
Sometimes a user may want to look at differences between two source packages — for example, to generate a proposed patch against the version currently in the repository for inclusion in the distribution's bug tracking system. If both packages use the same upstream version, this can done using the debdiff
tool, which produces differences between two source trees with packaging changes included.
If the upstream tarballs for the two versions are different, such a naive comparison cannot be used. Instead, the interdiff
utility can be used to produce a diff between two diff files (in this case, between two diff.gz
files). A drawback is that an interdiff
output requires more effort to apply, and the one applying the changes must also find and download the newer upstream tarball, which is typically done using the get-orig-source
rule in debian/rules
.
Read more about this topic: Debian Build Toolchain
Famous quotes containing the words tracking and/or source:
“Such is the art of writing as Dreiser understands it and practices itan endless piling up of minutiae, an almost ferocious tracking down of ions, electrons and molecules, an unshakable determination to tell it all. One is amazed by the mole-like diligence of the man, and no less by his exasperating disregard for the ease of his readers.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“We are threatened with suffering from three directions: from our own body, which is doomed to decay and dissolution and which cannot even do without pain and anxiety as warning signals; from the external world, which may rage against us with overwhelming and merciless forces of destruction; and finally from our relations to other men. The suffering which comes from this last source is perhaps more painful than any other.”
—Sigmund Freud (18561939)