On Thu, May 21, 2015 at 02:08:23PM +0200, Anto wrote:
> Another question is about generating the patch files to be added into
> debian/patches directory. What I have been doing so far are the followings,
> to get the patch files which look similar to the official patches:
>
> 1. Create "a" and "b" directory
>
> 2. Copy the files from the original source package including their directory
> structures, into "a" and "b" directories
>

>    If the file does not exist on the original sourcepackage, only generate
> its directory structure on "a" directory and put the new file on "b"
> directory under the same directory structure

>
> 3. Modify only the files on "b" directory
>
> 4. Run "git diff --no-prefix --no-index a/ b/ > <name of the patch>.patch"
>
> I am sure that is not the proper way to do it. So could you please let me
> know how to properly build the patches, especially for off-line purpose so
> no local and remote git repositories?

* The standard tool for Debian packages is "quilt", which needs a litle
bit of setup to make it use debian/patches.
You will need to "add" files that you want to edit *before* changing them.

* git's default format is:
--- a/
+++ b/

You do not need to do anything other than make sure that everything has
been committed to git before you start editing; git will store the contents
of the repository internally.

HTH,
Isaac Dunham