- Using quilt in Debian source packages. This page is aimed at people who want to make some changes to a Debian source package which is already using quilt. The intention is not to explain quilt, but to offer some Debian specific tips
There is an extensive guide on quilt and packaging: Debian New Maintainers' Guide
Using quilt with Debian source packages
Situation: you have downloaded a Debian source package which uses quilt and want to fix a bug and then submit a patch to the maintainers.
Environment variables
consider adding these lines to .bashrc. Otherwise, run them in your shell or terminal before using quilt
export QUILT_PATCHES=debian/patches export QUILT_REFRESH_ARGS="-p ab --no-timestamps --no-index"
Basic quilt tasks: Making a new patch
The source code unpacked by apt-get source does not have patches applied.
First step: apply existing patches to the source
quilt push -a
to "push" all existing patches onto the source tree (when you build a package, this is done by the build scripts)
Creating a new patch
quilt new myPatch.diff # this is the patch name
quilt add README # Where 'README' is the name of file you want to modify. You have to do that for all files you modify before you change them; one quilt patch can change multiple files
Now make changes to the source
Now, make you changes to the files added to the patch: edit it, or replace it with an already modified file stored in a different directory.
Updating a patch with changes made to its files
quilt refresh #you can do this as often as you like
Finish your editing
quilt pop -a #this un-applies all patches so that the source returns to the downloaded condition
Basic quilt tasks: Editing an existing patch
quilt supports multiple patches, but you are only ever change one of them.
This is the patch last pushed.
To edit an existing patch, start by pushing it
quilt push myPatch.diff
Now edit it, and when ready
quilt refresh myPatch.diff #note: command line completion may save you some typing
quilt pop -a