Applying Patches

Introduction
We cannot legally redistribute Palm source code (it is copyrighted code, and is not released under an open source license) therefore we need to manage our modifications as patches. Since these patches will come from many different places, and will need to be removed before each OTA update and then reapplied after-wards, we need a procedure and tools for doing this. This page documents this procedure.

Before asking questions about this procedure, please read the following documents fully:

An introduction to Quilt can be found at http://www.suse.de/~agruen/quilt.pdf

The manual for quilt is at http://linux.die.net/man/1/quilt

Upgrading from quilt to quilt-lite
If you have performed these instructions before the 8th Aug 2009, you will have installed a very heavyweight version of the quilt package which has a dependency on a very large perl package.

This dependency has been removed in a new quilt-lite package, which saves 26MB of space in /var as a result.

You can switch over to it as follows:


 * ipkg-opt update
 * ipkg-opt remove quilt perl libdb gdbm util-linux-ng e2fslibs ncursesw
 * ipkg-opt install quilt-lite

Alternatively, the setup script below will prompt to uninstall quilt, perl, etc ..., and install quilt-lite, if quilt is installed.

Setup Procedure (Scripted)
The process of setting up quilt has been scripted. The script performs the following actions:
 * Installs (or upgrades) git and any dependencies
 * Installs (or upgrades) quilt (actually quilt-lite, a version of quilt that does not depend on perl) and any dependencies
 * Configures quilt to store patches in /opt/src/patches
 * Creates (or updates) a local clone of the webos-internals modifications repository

Each step is only performed if necessary. Please note that ipkg-opt needs to be installed. The instructions are found here.

To get run the script, log into your Pre, gain root privileges and run the following commands: cd /tmp wget http://gitorious.org/webos-internals/bootstrap/blobs/raw/master/quilt-bootstrap.sh sh quilt-bootstrap.sh

Setup Procedure (Manual Process)
(Note: Even though you may have previously installed the optware quilt patch manager, it won't damage anything to follow the Setup procedure. Alternatively, if you KNOW FOR SURE these are installed and your packages are up-to-date, you can skip to Importing and Applying Patches).

sudo -i # Yes, the -i is important.
 * Log into your Pre, and gain root privileges. (Note: This command is not required when using the emulator)

mount -o remount,rw /
 * Put your Pre in to Read Write Mode

ipkg-opt update
 * Ensure that you are set up for optware package installations, and make sure you have the latest package index:

ipkg-opt install quilt-lite git
 * Install the 'quilt-lite' package, which will be used to manage the patches you apply, and the 'git' package, which will be used to download existing patches from the modifications repository:

(If you already have those packages installed, repeating this step will not cause any harm.)

mkdir -p /opt/src/patches
 * Create a directory in which 'quilt' will manage your chosen modifications:

sed -ire 's|^[\s#]*QUILT_PATCHES=.*|QUILT_PATCHES=/opt/src/patches|' /opt/etc/quilt.quiltrc
 * Edit /opt/etc/quilt.quiltrc to point quilt to that directory:

rm -rf /opt/src/modifications
 * Delete any existing webos-internals modifications directories

cd /opt/src git clone git://gitorious.org/webos-internals/modifications.git
 * Clone the webos-internals modifications repository:

Importing and Applying Patches
cd /opt/src/modifications git pull sudo vi /opt/src/modifications/.git/config
 * Ensure your list of modifications is up to date
 * If you find yourself getting errors when you try to pull with the above command then you will need to modify your .git/config file

[branch "master"] remote = origin merge = refs/heads/master
 * Your [master] section should look like the following

find /opt/src/modifications -name *.patch
 * Browse the set of available patches. Each patch should have a description at the top.

cd / # It is *very* important to be in the / directory when you run quilt. quilt import /opt/src/modifications/application_name/patch_name.patch  # Note that you need to replace application_name and patch_name here.
 * Choose a patch from the modifications repository and import it into your own patches directory:

quilt series # you should see your patch listed in here
 * Verify that quilt has imported the patch successfully:
 * 1) You should still be in the / directory to run quilt.

quilt push quilt push -a
 * Instruct quilt to apply your patch
 * 1) You should still be in the / directory to run quilt.
 * 1) Use this to push all patches at once.

luna-send -n 1 palm://com.palm.applicationManager/rescan {}
 * If everything worked correctly, the patch should now be applied. You will usually need to restart the luna service on the Pre to see the effect of patches to applications. Here's how to initiate a rescan.

If that doesn't work, try a service restart with: stop LunaSysMgr && start LunaSysMgr

And if all else fails, simply reboot: reboot

Listing Applied Patches
cd / # It is *very* important to be in the / directory when you run quilt. quilt applied

Removing All Patches
Before you accept an over-the-air (OTA) update, you should remove any patches you have applied. Luckily, using quilt makes this very easy.

cd / # It is *very* important to be in the / directory when you run quilt. quilt pop -a
 * Remove all patches:

Reapplying all patches
After your OTA update is complete, you will want to reapply any patches you have selected. This may or may not go smoothly.

cd / # It is *very* important to be in the / directory when you run quilt. quilt push -a
 * Apply all patches:

mount -o remount,ro /
 * Put your Pre back in to Read Only mode

Quilt Commands
Other commands when using Quilt-Lite:

Please feel free to add/edit this section. I am not an expert, these are commands that I found by accident when i misspelled delete.

quilt add applied (shows applied/installed patches) delete (removes a patch from quilt series ex: quilt delete *name of patch*) diff edit files fold fork graph grep header import (downloads patch from git ex: quilt import *name of patch*) mail new next patches pop previous push (installs patches from quilt series one at a time. quilt push -a installs all patches) refresh rename revert series (shows all downloaded patches.) setup snapshot top unapplied upgrade

Getting Authenticated with gitorious.org
Before you can commit to gitorious you need to create an account.

Next, you'll need to create a public/private key pair, and the easiest way to do this is with openssh. If you want to create a pair with windows, there are PuTTYgen/Pageant instructions below under "Alternate Windows Method", but the following may be easier. After you generate a public key you'll share it with gitorious.org; your public key is how gitorious.org authenticates you and checks if have the permissions required to do a commit to a given repository. ipkg-opt update ipkg-opt install openssh # *see Note Below sudo ssh-keygen -t rsa # follow the prompts, ensure you're saving to /var/home/root/.ssh cat /var/home/root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub # copy the output and paste it into gitorious key manager * There's been some work to get dropbear working, but this tutorial assumes you have openssh installed. For information about dropbear and ssh keys, see this page
 * Don't forget to upload your public key from the last statement above to gitorious.org

Next, you'll need to ensure you have your environment properly configured.

echo $GIT_SSH # Should be /opt/bin/openssh-ssh

If the output of this command are anything other than /opt/bin/openssh-ssh, you'll need to update /etc/profile.d/optware. Add

export GIT_SSH=/opt/bin/openssh-ssh

To the top of the /etc/profile.d/optware.

Now you should be able to follow the steps below and contribute your code to gitorious.org.

Alternate Windows Method

The only reasons you might want to pursue this method is if you want to generate a ssh key pair on a Windows box.

Getting your key on window
 * Download PuTTYgen and Pageant

--Gitorious.org gitorious.org recommends you use msysGit.--


 * On Windows use PuTTYgen to generate a public/private key pair.

Key -> SSH-2 RSA KEY Key -> Generate key pair After some wiggling of the mouse your keys will be generated. You should fill in the //Key passphrase// and it's confirmation to secure you key. Save off the public and private key pairs to your user folder.


 * After which you will need to run Pageant on your pc. Pageant holds your private key in memory for PuTTY to use.

Creating a patch

 * Before making any changes to files:

cd / # It is *very* important to be in the / directory when you run quilt. quilt new patch_name.patch quilt add /usr/palm/applications/com.palm.app.appYouWantToMod/app/controllers/mod-assistant.js quilt add /usr/palm/applications/com.palm.app.appYouWantToMod/app/controllers/mod2-assistant.js


 * Now you can make changes on the Pre using vi/nano/joe/whatever, or sftp files to your machine and make changes. Make sure any file you change has been added in the above step.

quilt files # view files that are being tracked quilt header -e # add a header to the patch to describe it (please do this!)


 * Once you are finished and ready to create a patch

quilt refresh # this will create/update the /opt/src/patches/patch_name.patch file

Pushing the change back to gitorious.org

 * copy the patch into the modification tree you cloned above

mkdir /opt/src/modifications/application_name # You need to change application_name to the leaf of the palm application id. cp /opt/src/patches/patch_name.patch /opt/src/modifications/application_name/patch_name.patch


 * Identify yourself in git (use the user you have setup at gitorious.org)

cd /opt/src/modifications git config --global user.name "user" git config --global user.email "youremail@example.com"


 * Commit your changes to your local git

git add application_name/patch_name.patch git commit


 * Since we did a clone the first time, we need to recreate the origin:

git remote rm origin # (if you did a clone, we have to replace the origin) git remote add origin git@gitorious.org:webos-internals/modifications.git
 * This will destroy your ability to actually pull down updates, so you'll need to modify the /opt/src/modifications/.git/config to contain:

[branch "master"] remote = origin merge = refs/heads/master
 * Finally, push your changes up to gitorious.org

git push origin master # first time git push # any future pushes

/opt/bin/ssh -v git@gitorious.org
 * If the push does not work, try to debug the ssh connection

Extended, annotated sample session with quilt
root@castle:/# cd / root@castle:/# echo "Original file" > /usr/test root@castle:/# echo "2nd lien" >> /usr/test root@castle:/# echo "3rd ilne" >> /usr/test root@castle:/# echo "last line" >> /usr/test root@castle:/# quilt new p1 Patch /opt/src/patches/p1 is now on top root@castle:/# quilt add /usr/test File /usr/test added to patch /opt/src/patches/p1 root@castle:/# sed -i -e 's/lien/line/' /usr/test root@castle:/# quilt refresh Refreshed patch /opt/src/patches/p1 root@castle:/# quilt new p2 Patch /opt/src/patches/p2 is now on top root@castle:/# quilt add /usr/test File /usr/test added to patch /opt/src/patches/p2 root@castle:/# sed -i -e 's/ilne/line/' /usr/test root@castle:/# quilt refresh Refreshed patch /opt/src/patches/p2 root@castle:/# quilt pop Removing patch /opt/src/patches/p2 Restoring usr/test
 * First, we just need to setup a file to muck with
 * Start a new patch (normally you'll want to use patch_name.patch, I just wanted a shortened name)
 * You must quilt add any files that you are going to edit or create before you edit or create them.
 * Just using sed to correct the spelling on the 2nd line
 * quilt refresh actually finds what you have changed and writes it to the patch file (at this point, you can use git to push your changes)
 * Just for fun, let's do it again
 * Again, add file, make some changes, refresh to update the patch.
 * Just an example of rolling back changes

Now at patch /opt/src/patches/p1 root@castle:/# quilt pop Removing patch /opt/src/patches/p1 Restoring usr/test

Now at patch /opt/src/patches/enable-browser-downloads.patch root@castle:/# cat /usr/test Original file 2nd lien 3rd ilne last line root@castle:/# quilt delete p1 Removed patch /opt/src/patches/p1 root@castle:/# quilt push Applying patch /opt/src/patches/p2 patching file usr/test Hunk #1 succeeded at 1 with fuzz 2.
 * delete will delete the patch from your series, but leave the actual patch file in /opt/src/patches (so you could import it later)
 * Since we removed p1, push will now apply p2. However, since p2 was applied against p1 originally, p2 will report an error. If the changes are too significant, you can force with -f, but you should carefully inspect the resulting files.

Now at patch /opt/src/patches/p2 root@castle:/# quilt refresh Refreshed patch /opt/src/patches/p2 root@castle:/# cat /usr/test Original file 2nd lien 3rd line last line root@castle:/# rm /usr/test
 * If we want, we can refresh the patch so that future users of the patch do not receive the "fuzz" warning.
 * cleanup

Background info

 * quilt

Script for Updating/Installing Patches
I just wanted to share the following script that I just finished testing out. It's only been tested on my Pre so far, as I don't have access to any others.. It just updates the patch list, prints out available patches, then lets you choose which to apply.


 * 1) !/opt/bin/bash

cd /opt/src/modifications tput clear echo Updating list... git pull tput clear cd /

a=0 for inputline in $(find /opt/src/modifications -name *.patch | sort) do a=$(($a+1)); line="$(echo $inputline)" MYARRAY[$a]="$line" echo "${a}${line}" | awk -F "/" 'sub(".patch","",$6) {printf "%-3s %-15s %s\n", $1, $5, $6}' done echo "q  quit"

x=$(($a+1)); until [ -n "$opt" ] ; do read -p "Enter the line number for patch to apply [1 - $a] " opt if [ "$opt" = "q" ] ; then exit 0 fi if [ "$opt" -lt "$x" 2> /dev/null ] && [ "$opt" -gt 0 2> /dev/null ] ; then true else opt="" fi done

tput clear cd / quilt import ${MYARRAY[$opt]} quilt push luna-send -n 1 palm://com.palm.applicationManager/rescan {}