[PATCH] Documentation: describe how to apply incremental stable patches

[PATCH] Documentation: describe how to apply incremental stable patches

[Bagas Sanjaya]

The applying patches document
(Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst) mentions incremental stable
patches, but there is no example of how to apply them. Describe the
process.

While at it, remove note about incremental patches and move the external
link of 5.x.y incremental patches to "Where can I download patches?"
section.

Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc: SeongJae Park <sjpark@amazon.de>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com>
---
 Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst | 28 ++++++++++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst b/Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
index c2121c1e55d..c269f5e1a0a 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
@@ -249,6 +249,10 @@ The 5.x.y (-stable) and 5.x patches live at
 
 	https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/
 
+The 5.x.y incremental patches live at
+
+	https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/incr/
+
 The -rc patches are not stored on the webserver but are generated on
 demand from git tags such as
 
@@ -308,12 +312,11 @@ versions.
 If no 5.x.y kernel is available, then the highest numbered 5.x kernel is
 the current stable kernel.
 
-.. note::
+The -stable team provides normal as well as incremental patches. Below is
+how to apply these patches.
 
- The -stable team usually do make incremental patches available as well
- as patches against the latest mainline release, but I only cover the
- non-incremental ones below. The incremental ones can be found at
- https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/incr/
+Normal patches
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 These patches are not incremental, meaning that for example the 5.7.3
 patch does not apply on top of the 5.7.2 kernel source, but rather on top
@@ -331,6 +334,21 @@ Here's a small example::
 	$ cd ..
 	$ mv linux-5.7.2 linux-5.7.3	# rename the kernel source dir
 
+Incremental patches
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Incremental patches are different: instead of being applied on top
+of base 5.x kernel, they are applied on top of previous stable kernel
+(5.x.y-1).
+
+Here's the example to apply these::
+
+	$ cd ~/linux-5.7.2		# change to the kernel source dir
+	$ patch -p1 < ../patch-5.7.2-3	# apply the new 5.7.3 patch
+	$ cd ..
+	$ mv linux-5.7.2 linux-5.7.3	# rename the kernel source dir
+
+
 The -rc kernels
 ===============
 

base-commit: ffb217a13a2eaf6d5bd974fc83036a53ca69f1e2
-- 
An old man doll... just what I always wanted! - Clara

Re: [PATCH] Documentation: describe how to apply incremental stable patches

[Jonathan Corbet]

Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com> writes:

> The applying patches document
> (Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst) mentions incremental stable
> patches, but there is no example of how to apply them. Describe the
> process.
>
> While at it, remove note about incremental patches and move the external
> link of 5.x.y incremental patches to "Where can I download patches?"
> section.
>
> Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
> Cc: SeongJae Park <sjpark@amazon.de>
> Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
> Signed-off-by: Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst | 28 ++++++++++++++++++----
>  1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

I've applied this, thanks.  I do have to wonder, though, how useful this
information is anymore.  Does anybody actually apply kernel-patch files
this far into the Git era?

Thanks,

jon

Re: [PATCH] Documentation: describe how to apply incremental stable patches

[Ken Moffat]

On Wed, Mar 09, 2022 at 04:29:28PM -0700, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
> Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > The applying patches document
> > (Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst) mentions incremental stable
> > patches, but there is no example of how to apply them. Describe the
> > process.
> >
> > While at it, remove note about incremental patches and move the external
> > link of 5.x.y incremental patches to "Where can I download patches?"
> > section.
> >
> > Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
> > Cc: SeongJae Park <sjpark@amazon.de>
> > Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
> > Signed-off-by: Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com>
> > ---
> >  Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst | 28 ++++++++++++++++++----
> >  1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> 
> I've applied this, thanks.  I do have to wonder, though, how useful this
> information is anymore.  Does anybody actually apply kernel-patch files
> this far into the Git era?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> jon

I do.  I have several machines with multiple systems (current, old,
older, experimental) and mostly I build current kernels in the
current system, and older LTS in the old systems.  Ideally I will
find time to test an rc, but I only use git for kernels when I need
to bisect.  I find it much easier to keep the initial relase tarball
and chosen point patches on my local nfs.

My interests are userspace, and some of my machines are
comparatively slow to compile kernels.

ĸen 

-- 
The beauty of reading a page of de Selby is that it leads one
inescapably to the conclusion that one is not, of all nincompoops,
the greatest.            -- du Garbandier

Re: [PATCH] Documentation: describe how to apply incremental stable patches

[Bagas Sanjaya]

On 10/03/22 06.29, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
> I've applied this, thanks.  I do have to wonder, though, how useful this
> information is anymore.  Does anybody actually apply kernel-patch files
> this far into the Git era?
> 

I think most people don't use Git to track kernel sources, so they just
download full tarball from kernel.org, then applying stable update
patches (normal or incremental). I also used to do the same, but now I use
Git because when there is stable kernel update, I can simply `git fetch`,
then checkout desired stable branch, and `git merge`.

-- 
An old man doll... just what I always wanted! - Clara