Trying to patch a beautiful desktop

[Vaaf]

At 14:52 08.03.2006, Giorgos Keramidas wrote:
>On 2006-03-08 14:41, Kristian Vaaf <vaaf at broadpark.no> wrote:
> >At 10:22 08.03.2006, Giorgos Keramidas wrote:
> >>On 2006-03-08 05:34, Kristian Vaaf <vaaf at broadpark.no> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> I've done some research on how to make ones desktop look the best,
> >>> without being too bloated in terms of looks and functionality but
> >>> still classify as good design and give users a smooth experience.
> >>>
> >>> I've found that if done correctly, Openbox together with Gnome can
> >>> look pretty darn nice. I've found some nice themes for Openbox as
> >>> well as GTK 1 and 2, however the Openbox code needs some
> >>> patching. There already is a patch, but having the obsessive
> >>> compulsive disorder, I want the patch file to also look good.
> >>>
> >>> After I edited it, it wouldn't work. No matter what line/character
> >>> coordinates I typed in for the @@ lines. I also assume it's
> >>> unnecessary, at least it ought to be, including lines other than +
> >>> and - unless they serve a purpose.
> >>
> >> You're going backwards.  The proper way of generating a patch is not by
> >> manually editing a file.  Extract the original source tree, copy it to a
> >> 'clean' place, make your changes and use diff(1) to generate the patch.
> >
> > I know, but I need to do it this way.
>
>No, you don't.  At least not until you have proven that this way is
>easier, faster, cleaner and more productive than wasting your time and
>the time of a dozen more people by struggling to do something the
>hard/uphill way just because :P
>
>Why do you think that you "need" to edit the patch file manually?
>
>It's so much easier to just untar two copies of the source, i.e. with:
>
>     $ cd work
>     $ tar xzf foo-1.2.3.tar.gz && mv foo-1.2.3 foo.orig
>     $ tar xzf foo-1.2.3.tar.gz && mv foo-1.2.3 foo
>
>then work on the files of the foo/ tree and use diff(1) when you're done
>with all your changes:
>
>     $ diff -ruN foo.orig foo > ~/work/patchfile 2>&1
>
>I don't see why you "need" to do this any other way.
>
> > How may I learn more about the .diff format?
>
>Reading the source of diff(1) or patch(1) should be *the* authoritative
>way of learning about all diff formats.

Hey man!

Thanks for the tutorial.

The need arose because I needed to import this patch into my
general file repository, which carries along with it very strict standards
of design even when it comes to simple ASCII files.

I guess I love what I do so much that I have to take consideration
even of small trifles like that :)

Thanks again man,
Vaaf