why use diff
 

Hi,
i want to know why do we need to patch files based upon diff when we can directly overwrite the old file with the new file.


Please recommend
regards
ltoso

size.
Put yourself in the position of a kernel programmer. He fixes three of the thousands of files in one modules 17 directories down and adds a new subdir to that directory with a few files in it. If he didn't have diff, how would he distribute this work?

Plus patching is quite often the precursor to the next release but until it comes out and fixes the relevant issues the patch is supplied.

Size, and also maybe to not clash with other changes.

Its also a brilliant way of looking at what this new code contains; a few times I've seen patches which are no better than the code they replace, and have been in a position to say so. If I was being sent a tarball of the whole thing then we'd probably have to keep running the new bad code until it broke and we fixed it again.