quilt
(1)
Name
quilt - tool to manage series of patches
Synopsis
quilt [-h] command [options]
Description
User Commands quilt(1)
NAME
quilt - tool to manage series of patches
SYNOPSIS
quilt [-h] command [options]
DESCRIPTION
Quilt is a tool to manage large sets of patches by keeping
track of the changes each patch makes. Patches can be
applied, un-applied, refreshed, etc. The key philosophical
concept is that your primary output is patches.
With quilt, all work occurs within a single directory tree.
Commands can be be invoked from anywhere within the source
tree. They are of the form quilt cmd similar to CVS com-
mands. They can be abbreviated as long as the specified part
of the command is unique. All commands print some help text
with quilt cmd -h.
Quilt manages a stack of patches. Patches are applied incre-
mentally on top of the base tree plus all preceding patches.
They can be pushed on top of the stack (quilt push), and
popped off the stack (quilt pop). Commands are available
for querying the contents of the series file (quilt series,
see below), the contents of the stack (quilt applied, quilt
previous, quilt top and the patches that are not applied at
a particular moment (quilt next, quilt unapplied). By
default, most commands apply to the topmost patch on the
stack.
Patch files are located in the patches sub-directory of the
source tree (see EXAMPLE OF WORKING TREE below). The
QUILT_PATCHES environment variable can be used to override
this location. The patches directory may contain sub-direc-
tories. It may also be a symbolic link instead of a direc-
tory.
A file called series contains a list of patch file names
that defines the order in which patches are applied. Unless
there are means by which series files can be generated auto-
matically, it is usually provided along with a set of
patches. In this file, each patch file name is on a separate
line. Patch files are identified by pathnames that are rela-
tive to the patches directory; patches may be in sub-direc-
tories below this directory. Lines in the series file that
start with a hash character (#) are ignored. You can also
add a comment after each patch file name, introduced by a
space followed by a hash character. When quilt adds,
removes, or renames patches, it automatically updates the
series file. Users of quilt can modify series files while
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 1
User Commands quilt(1)
some patches are applied, as long as the applied patches
remain in their original order.
Different series files can be used to assemble patches in
different ways, corresponding for example to different
development branches.
Before a patch is applied (or ``pushed on the stack''),
copies of all files the patch modifies are saved to the
.pc/patch directory. The patch is added to the list of cur-
rently applied patches (.pc/applied-patches). Later when a
patch is regenerated (quilt refresh), the backup copies in
.pc/patch are compared with the current versions of the
files in the source tree using GNU diff.
Documentation related to a patch can be put at the beginning
of a patch file. Quilt is careful to preserve all text that
precedes the actual patch when doing a refresh. (This is
limited to patches in unified format; see diff documenta-
tion).
The series file is looked up in the .pc directory, in the
root of the source tree, and in the patches directory. The
first series file that is found is used. This may also be a
symbolic link, or a file with multiple hard links. Usually,
only one series file is used for a set of patches, so the
patches sub-directory is a convenient location.
The .pc directory and its sub-directories cannot be relo-
cated, but it can be a symbolic link. While patches are
applied to the source tree, this directory is essential for
many operations, including taking patches off the stack
(quilt pop), and refreshing patches (quilt refresh). Files
in the .pc directory are automatically removed when they are
no longer needed, so there is no need to clean up manually.
QUILT COMMANDS REFERENCE
unapplied [patch]
Print a list of patches that are not applied, or all
patches that follow the specified patch in the series
file.
next [patch]
Print the name of the next patch after the specified or
topmost patch in the series file.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 2
User Commands quilt(1)
rename [-P patch] new_name
Rename the topmost or named patch.
-P patch
Patch to rename.
file|seriesfile}
setup [-d path-prefix] [-v] [--sourcedir dir] [--fuzz=N]
{spec-
Initializes a source tree from an rpm spec file or a
quilt series file.
-d Optional path prefix for the resulting source tree.
--sourcedir
Directory that contains the package sources.
Defaults to `.'.
-v Verbose debug output.
--fuzz=N
Set the maximum fuzz factor (needs rpm 4.6 or
later).
series [-v]
Print the names of all patches in the series file.
-v Verbose, more user friendly output.
files [-v] [-a] [-l] [--combine patch] [patch]
Print the list of files that the topmost or specified
patch changes.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 3
User Commands quilt(1)
-a List all files in all applied patches.
-l Add patch name to output.
-v Verbose, more user friendly output.
--combine patch
Create a listing for all patches between this patch
and the topmost or specified patch. A patch name of
`-' is equivalent to specifying the first applied
patch.
add [-P patch] {file} ...
Add one or more files to the topmost or named patch.
Files must be added to the patch before being modified.
Files that are modified by patches already applied on
top of the specified patch cannot be added.
-P patch
Patch to add files to.
snapshot [-d]
Take a snapshot of the current working state. After
taking the snapshot, the tree can be modified in the
usual ways, including pushing and popping patches. A
diff against the tree at the moment of the snapshot can
be generated with `quilt diff --snapshot'.
-d Only remove current snapshot.
patches [-v] {file}
Print the list of patches that modify the specified
file. (Uses a heuristic to determine which files are
modified by unapplied patches. Note that this heuristic
is much slower than scanning applied patches.)
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 4
User Commands quilt(1)
-v Verbose, more user friendly output.
fork [new_name]
Fork the topmost patch. Forking a patch means creating
a verbatim copy of it under a new name, and use that new
name instead of the original one in the current series.
This is useful when a patch has to be modified, but the
original version of it should be preserved, e.g.
because it is used in another series, or for the his-
tory. A typical sequence of commands would be: fork,
edit, refresh.
If new_name is missing, the name of the forked patch
will be the current patch name, followed by `-2'. If
the patch name already ends in a dash-and-number, the
number is further incremented (e.g., patch.diff,
patch-2.diff, patch-3.diff).
grep [-h|options] {pattern}
Grep through the source files, recursively, skipping
patches and quilt meta-information. If no filename argu-
ment is given, the whole source tree is searched. Please
see the grep(1) manual page for options.
-h Print this help. The grep -h option can be passed
after a double-dash (--). Search expressions that
start with a dash can be passed after a second dou-
ble-dash (-- --).
pop [-afRqv] [num|patch]
Remove patch(es) from the stack of applied patches.
Without options, the topmost patch is removed. When a
number is specified, remove the specified number of
patches. When a patch name is specified, remove patches
until the specified patch end up on top of the stack.
Patch names may include the patches/ prefix, which means
that filename completion can be used.
-a Remove all applied patches.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 5
User Commands quilt(1)
-f Force remove. The state before the patch(es) were
applied will be restored from backup files.
-R Always verify if the patch removes cleanly; don't
rely on timestamp checks.
-q Quiet operation.
-v Verbose operation.
previous [patch]
Print the name of the previous patch before the speci-
fied or topmost patch in the series file.
import [-p num] [-R] [-P patch] [-f] [-d {o|a|n}] patchfile
...
Import external patches. The patches will be inserted
following the current top patch, and must be pushed
after import to apply them.
-p num
Number of directory levels to strip when applying
(default=1)
-R Apply patch in reverse.
-P patch
Patch filename to use inside quilt. This option can
only be used when importing a single patch.
-f Overwrite/update existing patches.
-d {o|a|n}
When overwriting in existing patch, keep the old
(o), all (a), or new (n) patch header. If both
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 6
User Commands quilt(1)
patches include headers, this option must be speci-
fied. This option is only effective when -f is used.
new [-p n|-p ab] {patchname}
Create a new patch with the specified file name, and
insert it after the topmost patch. The name can be pre-
fixed with a sub-directory name, allowing for grouping
related patches together.
-p n
Create a -p n style patch (-p0 or -p1 are sup-
ported).
-p ab
Create a -p1 style patch, but use a/file and b/file
as the original and new filenames instead of the
default dir.orig/file and dir/file names.
Quilt can be used in sub-directories of a source
tree. It determines the root of a source tree by
searching for a patches directory above the current
working directory. Create a patches directory in the
intended root directory if quilt chooses a top-level
directory that is too high up in the directory tree.
top Print the name of the topmost patch on the current
stack of applied patches.
[--color[=always|auto|never]] [num|patch]
push [-afqv] [--merge[=merge|diff3]] [--leave-
rejects]
Apply patch(es) from the series file. Without options,
the next patch in the series file is applied. When a
number is specified, apply the specified number of
patches. When a patch name is specified, apply all
patches up to and including the specified patch. Patch
names may include the patches/ prefix, which means that
filename completion can be used.
-a Apply all patches in the series file.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 7
User Commands quilt(1)
-q Quiet operation.
-f Force apply, even if the patch has rejects. Unless
in quiet mode, apply the patch interactively: the
patch utility may ask questions.
-v Verbose operation.
--fuzz=N
Set the maximum fuzz factor (default: 2).
-m, --merge[=merge|diff3]
Merge the patch file into the original files (see
patch(1)).
--leave-rejects
Leave around the reject files patch produced, even
if the patch is not actually applied.
--color[=always|auto|never]
Use syntax coloring.
delete [-r] [--backup] [patch|-n]
Remove the specified or topmost patch from the series
file. If the patch is applied, quilt will attempt to
remove it first. (Only the topmost patch can be removed
right now.)
-n Delete the next patch after topmost, rather than the
specified or topmost patch.
-r Remove the deleted patch file from the patches
directory as well.
--backup
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 8
User Commands quilt(1)
Rename the patch file to patch~ rather than deleting
it. Ignored if not used with `-r'.
[-P patch] [--snapshot] [--diff=utility] [--no-timestamps] [--no-
index] [--sort] [--color] [file ...]
diff [-p n|-p ab] [-u|-U num|-c|-C num] [--combine patch|-z]
[-R]
Produces a diff of the specified file(s) in the topmost
or specified patch. If no files are specified, all
files that are modified are included.
-p n
Create a -p n style patch (-p0 or -p1 are sup-
ported).
-p ab
Create a -p1 style patch, but use a/file and b/file
as the original and new filenames instead of the
default dir.orig/file and dir/file names.
-u, -U num, -c, -C num
Create a unified diff (-u, -U) with num lines of
context. Create a context diff (-c, -C) with num
lines of context. The number of context lines
defaults to 3.
--no-timestamps
Do not include file timestamps in patch headers.
--no-index
Do not output Index: lines.
-z Write to standard output the changes that have been
made relative to the topmost or specified patch.
-R Create a reverse diff.
-P patch
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 9
User Commands quilt(1)
Create a diff for the specified patch. (Defaults to
the topmost patch.)
--combine patch
Create a combined diff for all patches between this
patch and the patch specified with -P. A patch name
of `-' is equivalent to specifying the first applied
patch.
--snapshot
Diff against snapshot (see `quilt snapshot -h').
--diff=utility
Use the specified utility for generating the diff.
The utility is invoked with the original and new
file name as arguments.
--color[=always|auto|never]
Use syntax coloring.
--sort
Sort files by their name instead of preserving the
original order.
[--sender ...] [--from ...] [--to ...] [--cc ...] [--bcc ...]
[--subject ...] [--reply-to message] [first_patch [last_patch]]
mail {--mbox file|--send} [-m text] [-M file] [--prefix
prefix]
Create mail messages from a specified range of patches,
or all patches in the series file, and either store them
in a mailbox file, or send them immediately. The editor
is opened with a template for the introduction. Please
see /usr/share/doc/quilt/README.MAIL for details. When
specifying a range of patches, a first patch name of `-'
denotes the first, and a last patch name of `-' denotes
the last patch in the series.
-m text
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 10
User Commands quilt(1)
Text to use as the text in the introduction. When
this option is used, the editor will not be invoked,
and the patches will be processed immediately.
-M file
Like the -m option, but read the introduction from
file.
--prefix prefix
Use an alternate prefix in the bracketed part of the
subjects generated. Defaults to `patch'.
--mbox file
Store all messages in the specified file in mbox
format. The mbox can later be sent using formail,
for example.
--send
Send the messages directly.
--sender
The envelope sender address to use. The address must
be of the form `user@domain.name'. No display name
is allowed.
--from, --subject
The values for the From and Subject headers to use.
If no --from option is given, the value of the
--sender option is used.
--to, --cc, --bcc
Append a recipient to the To, Cc, or Bcc header.
--signature file
Append the specified signature to messages (defaults
to ~/.signature if found; use `-' for no signature).
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 11
User Commands quilt(1)
--reply-to message
Add the appropriate headers to reply to the speci-
fied message.
edit file ...
Edit the specified file(s) in $EDITOR after adding it
(them) to the topmost patch.
[-T ps] [patch]
graph [--all] [--reduce] [--lines[=num]] [--edge-
labels=files]
Generate a dot(1) directed graph showing the dependen-
cies between applied patches. A patch depends on another
patch if both touch the same file or, with the --lines
option, if their modifications overlap. Unless otherwise
specified, the graph includes all patches that the top-
most patch depends on. When a patch name is specified,
instead of the topmost patch, create a graph for the
specified patch. The graph will include all other
patches that this patch depends on, as well as all
patches that depend on this patch.
--all
Generate a graph including all applied patches and
their dependencies. (Unapplied patches are not
included.)
--reduce
Eliminate transitive edges from the graph.
--lines[=num]
Compute dependencies by looking at the lines the
patches modify. Unless a different num is speci-
fied, two lines of context are included.
--edge-labels=files
Label graph edges with the file names that the adja-
cent patches modify.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 12
User Commands quilt(1)
-T ps
Directly produce a PostScript output file.
applied [patch]
Print a list of applied patches, or all patches up to
and including the specified patch in the file series.
annotate [-P patch] {file}
Print an annotated listing of the specified file showing
which patches modify which lines. Only applied patches
are included.
-P patch
Stop checking for changes at the specified rather
than the topmost patch.
remove [-P patch] {file} ...
Remove one or more files from the topmost or named
patch. Files that are modified by patches on top of the
specified patch cannot be removed.
-P patch
Remove named files from the named patch.
ing-whitespace] [patch]
header [-a|-r|-e] [--backup] [--strip-diffstat] [--strip-
trail-
Print or change the header of the topmost or specified
patch.
-a, -r, -e
Append to (-a) or replace (-r) the exiting patch
header, or edit (-e) the header in $EDITOR. If none
of these options is given, print the patch header.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 13
User Commands quilt(1)
--strip-diffstat
Strip diffstat output from the header.
--strip-trailing-whitespace
Strip trailing whitespace at the end of lines of the
header.
--backup
Create a backup copy of the old version of a patch
as patch~.
revert [-P patch] {file} ...
Revert uncommitted changes to the topmost or named patch
for the specified file(s): after the revert, 'quilt diff
-z' will show no differences for those files. Changes to
files that are modified by patches on top of the speci-
fied patch cannot be reverted.
-P patch
Revert changes in the named patch.
fold [-R] [-q] [-f] [-p strip-level]
Integrate the patch read from standard input into the
topmost patch: After making sure that all files modified
are part of the topmost patch, the patch is applied with
the specified strip level (which defaults to 1).
-R Apply patch in reverse.
-q Quiet operation.
-f Force apply, even if the patch has rejects. Unless
in quiet mode, apply the patch interactively: the
patch utility may ask questions.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 14
User Commands quilt(1)
-p strip-level
The number of pathname components to strip from file
names when applying patchfile.
[--no-timestamps] [--no-index] [--diffstat] [--sort] [--backup]
[--strip-trailing-whitespace] [patch]
refresh [-p n|-p ab] [-u|-U num|-c|-C num] [-z[new_name]]
[-f]
Refreshes the specified patch, or the topmost patch by
default. Documentation that comes before the actual
patch in the patch file is retained.
It is possible to refresh patches that are not on top.
If any patches on top of the patch to refresh modify the
same files, the script aborts by default. Patches can
still be refreshed with -f. In that case this script
will print a warning for each shadowed file, changes by
more recent patches will be ignored, and only changes in
files that have not been modified by any more recent
patches will end up in the specified patch.
-p n
Create a -p n style patch (-p0 or -p1 supported).
-p ab
Create a -p1 style patch, but use a/file and b/file
as the original and new filenames instead of the
default dir.orig/file and dir/file names.
-u, -U num, -c, -C num
Create a unified diff (-u, -U) with num lines of
context. Create a context diff (-c, -C) with num
lines of context. The number of context lines
defaults to 3.
-z[new_name]
Create a new patch containing the changes instead of
refreshing the topmost patch. If no new name is
specified, `-2' is added to the original patch name,
etc. (See the fork command.)
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 15
User Commands quilt(1)
--no-timestamps
Do not include file timestamps in patch headers.
--no-index
Do not output Index: lines.
--diffstat
Add a diffstat section to the patch header, or
replace the existing diffstat section.
-f Enforce refreshing of a patch that is not on top.
--backup
Create a backup copy of the old version of a patch
as patch~.
--sort
Sort files by their name instead of preserving the
original order.
--strip-trailing-whitespace
Strip trailing whitespace at the end of lines.
upgrade
Upgrade the meta-data in a working tree from an old ver-
sion of quilt to the current version. This command is
only needed when the quilt meta-data format has changed,
and the working tree still contains old-format meta-
data. In that case, quilt will request to run `quilt
upgrade'.
COMMON OPTIONS TO ALL COMMANDS
B--traceP
Runs the command in bash trace mode (-x). For inter-
nal debugging.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 16
User Commands quilt(1)
B--quiltrcP file
Use the specified configuration file instead of
~/.quiltrc (or /etc/quilt.quiltrc if ~/.quiltrc does
not exist). See the pdf documentation for details
about its possible contents. The special value "-"
causes quilt not to read any configuration file.
B--versionP
Print the version number and exit immediately.
EXAMPLE OF WORKING TREE
work/ -+- ...
|- patches/ -+- series
| |- patch2.diff
| |- patch1.diff
| +- ...
+- .pc/ -+- applied-patches
|- patch1.diff/ -+- ...
|- patch2.diff/ -+- ...
+- ...
EXAMPLE
Please refer to the pdf documentation for an example.
CONFIGURATION FILE
Upon startup, quilt evaluates the file .quiltrc in the
user's home directory, or the file specified with the
--quiltrc option. This file is a regular bash script.
Default options can be passed to any COMMAND by defining a
QUILT_${COMMAND}_ARGS variable. For example,
QUILT_DIFF_ARGS="--color=auto" causes the output of quilt
diff to be syntax colored when writing to a terminal.
In addition to that, quilt recognizes the following vari-
ables:
QUILT_DIFF_OPTS
Additional options that quilt shall pass to GNU diff
when generating patches. A useful setting for C source
code is "-p", which causes GNU diff to show in the
resulting patch which function a change is in.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 17
User Commands quilt(1)
QUILT_PATCH_OPTS
Additional options that quilt shall pass to GNU patch
when applying patches. For example, recent versions of
GNU patch support the "--reject-format=unified" option
for generating reject files in unified diff style (older
patch versions used "--unified-reject-files" for that).
QUILT_DIFFSTAT_OPTS
Additional options that quilt shall pass to diffstat
when generating patch statistics. For example, "-f0" can
be used for an alternative output format. Recent ver-
sions of diffstat also support alternative rounding
methods ("-r1", "-r2").
QUILT_PATCHES
The location of patch files, defaulting to "patches".
QUILT_SERIES
The name of the series file, defaulting to "series".
Unless an absolute path is used, the search algorithm
described above applies.
QUILT_PATCHES_PREFIX
If set to anything, quilt will prefix patch names it
prints with their directory (QUILT_PATCHES).
QUILT_NO_DIFF_INDEX
By default, quilt prepends an Index: line to the patches
it generates. If this variable is set to anything, no
line is prepended. This is a shortcut to adding --no-
index to both QUILT_DIFF_ARGS and QUILT_REFRESH_ARGS.
QUILT_NO_DIFF_TIMESTAMPS
By default, quilt includes timestamps in headers when
generating patches. If this variable is set to any-
thing, no timestamp will be included. This is a short-
cut to adding --no-timestamps to both QUILT_DIFF_ARGS
and QUILT_REFRESH_ARGS.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 18
User Commands quilt(1)
QUILT_PAGER
The pager quilt shall use for commands which produce
paginated output. If unset, the values of GIT_PAGER or
PAGER is used. If none of these variables is set,
"less" is used. An empty value indicates that no pager
should be used.
EDITOR
The program to run to edit files. If it isn't redefined
in the configuration file, $EDITOR as defined in the
environment will be used.
AUTHORS
Quilt started as a series of scripts written by Andrew Mor-
ton (patch-scripts). Based on Andrew's ideas, Andreas Gruen-
bacher completely rewrote the scripts, with the help of sev-
eral other contributors (see AUTHORS file in the distribu-
tion).
This man page was written by Martin Quinson, based on infor-
mation found in the pdf documentation, and in the help mes-
sages of each commands.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | developer/quilt |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+------------------+
SEE ALSO
The pdf documentation, which should be under
/usr/share/doc/quilt/quilt.pdf. Note that some distributors
compress this file. zxpdf(1) can be used to display com-
pressed pdf files.
diff(1), patch(1).
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 19
User Commands quilt(1)
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://download.savan-
nah.gnu.org/releases/quilt/quilt-0.60.tar.gz
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://savan-
nah.nongnu.org/projects/quilt/.
quilt Last change: June 2, 2006 20