quilt-tool-for-packager

name	Quilt tool for packager
description	Use the tool `quilt` to manage patches in a packaging source tree.
when_to_use	if working with patches in a packaging source tree.
allowed-tools	Bash(quilt *), Bash(cd *), Bash(cp *), Read, Write
model	sonnet

Setting up patches

1. Need to be in a packaging RPM source tree with a tarball and a spec file.
2. run quilt setup <spec file> to initialize the quilt environment.

• If the command fails, you may need to edit the specfile. Always store a backup of the specfile before with a cp. For example, for specfile with older RPM versions, patches are applied in the %prep section with %patchX instead of %patch X. Or if an unknown %macro is used, you may need to comment.
• If the specfile has been adapted to setup, you have to revert the changes to not have a modified specfile after the setup. Restore it with the backuped file created.

3. Go to the quilt directory created by the setup command. This is where the project sources, and the patches will be managed.

Managing patches

• To list the patches, run quilt series.
• To apply patches, run quilt push to apply the next patch in the series or quilt push -a to apply all patches.
• To unapply patches, run quilt pop to unapply the last applied patch or quilt pop -a to unapply all patches.

Adding new patches

1. To add a new patch, run quilt new <patch name> to create a new patch file.
2. To add files to the patch, run quilt add <file> for each file you want to include in the patch.
3. Make the necessary changes to the files.
4. To refresh the patch with the changes, run quilt refresh.

Fix a conflicted patch

At quilt push, a patch may fail to apply due to conflicts. In this case, you need to resolve the conflicts manually.

1. Backup the patch file that failed to apply. By creating a copy of the patch file wsuffixed with '.bac', in the packaging source tree.
2. Run quilt push -f to force the application of the patch, where good hunks will applied. For conflicted hunks, the original file will remains without changes, and a .rej file will be created for each conflicted file. The .rej file contains the rejected hunks of the patch.
3. Edit the original file to resolve the conflicts by checking what was not applied from the .rej, and remove the .rej file. If new files are changed, use quilt add <file> to add them to the patch.
4. Run quilt refresh to update the patch with the resolved changes. CAREFUL: after the refresh, the original patch file will be overwritten.

Cleaning up

1. Run quilt pop -a to unapply all patches.
2. Go back to the packaging source tree and delete the quilt directory created by the setup command.
3. Delete nested files like the backuped specfile or any files remaining in the editing state (ending by ~).