VI. Fixes and Patches

When an issue has been reported, reproduced and fixed, the fixes to the eCos or eCosPro source code is often provided in the form of a single file known as a patch or patchfile. This patchfile is a text file that contains a list of contexts and differences for a number of different files which represent the changes used to fix the issue.

While the text file can be read and understood by experienced C and C++ programmers, it is more common to provide this file to the patch application which applies those differences to one or more original files, producing patched versions of the files. Normally the patched versions are put in place of the originals. Backups of the originals can also be made.

This section describes the process of applying a provided eCos/eCosPro patch to an eCosPro distribution and provides detailed user instructions.