Patch
<software> 1. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually as a
quick-and-dirty remedy to an existing
bug or
misfeature.
A patch may or may not work, and may or may not eventually be incorporated permanently into the program. Distinguished from a
diff or
mod by the fact that a patch is generated by more primitive means than the rest of the program; the classical examples are instructions modified by using the front panel switches, and changes made directly to the binary executable of a program originally written in an
HLL.
Compare
one-line fix.
2. To insert a patch into a piece of code.
3. [in the Unix world] A
diff.
4. A set of modifications to binaries to be applied by a patching program.
IBM systems often receive updates to the
operating system in the form of absolute
hexadecimal patches.
If you have modified your OS, you have to disassemble these back to the
source code.
The patches might later be corrected by other patches on top of them (patches were said to "grow scar tissue").
The result was often a convoluted
patch space and headaches galore.
There is a classic story of a
tiger team penetrating a secure military computer that illustrates the danger inherent in binary patches (or, indeed, any patches that you can't - or don't - inspect and examine before installing).
They couldn't find any trap doors or any way to penetrate security of IBM's OS, so they made a site visit to an IBM office (remember, these were official military types who were purportedly on official business), swiped some IBM stationery, and created a fake patch.
The patch was actually the trapdoor they needed.
The patch was distributed at about the right time for an IBM patch, had official stationery and all accompanying documentation, and was dutifully installed.
The installation manager very shortly thereafter learned something about proper procedures.
5.
Larry Wall's "patch" utility, which automatically applies a patch to a set of
source code or other text files.
It accepts input in any of the four forms output by the
Unix diff utility and uses many helpful heuristics to determine how to apply them.
Diff and patch are the standard way of producing and applying updates to
Unix files ditributed via
Usenet and the
Internet, both have been ported to other operating systems.
See your nearest
GNU archive site.
[
Jargon File]
