If the patch is compressed, decompress it. Don't worry about stripping
any leading text (e-mail headers, etc.); patch will do that itself. The
patch itself should start with a path name and a timestamp and then another
line with a different path name and timestamp. See how many directories you
need to drop from the second path name in order to get a name relative to
the source directory of the program you want to patch. (See patch's
manpage or info file for examples and a more detailed explanation.) Now
change to the program's source directory and type patch -s -pn
< patchfile, where n is the number of directories you need
to drop and patchfile is the path to the patch you want to supply. Do
not omit the -p flag even if n is zero; otherwise, directory
structure will not be preserved correctly.
If patch prompts you for a file to patch, you probably got n
wrong; take another look at the patch and try again (leading slashes count
too). If it complains about hunks failing, do not panic. Look at the
resulting .rej files one by one, figure out what changes they are
trying to make, and make them yourself. If you feel uncomfortable doing
this, ask somebody more experienced or politely post a query to an
appropriate mailing list or newsgroup.
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