Re: How do we import patches from non-git sources?

From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Date: May 24, 2007, 21:45 UTC
Message-ID: <alpine.LFD.0.98.0705241439220.26602@woody.linux-foundation.org>
In-Reply-To: <1180017010.21181.2.camel@zealous.synapsedev.com>

On Thu, 24 May 2007, Marc Singer wrote:

> 
> Is there a way to import patches that did not come from git?  Remember
> that we'd like to include the functionality of git-am that adds new
> files to the index.

The normal thing to do is

	git apply --index <patchfile>

which will apply a patch _and_ update the index, so that you can then just do a simple

	git commit -m "my message goes here" --author "the author goes here"

to create the commit, new (or deleted) files and all.

Of course, the reason the "normal" patch format is an email, and not just a bare patch, is that an email contains so much more: it contains not just the patch, but the authorship information and the commit message.

So basically:
 - no, you _cannot_ just "commit" a patch, since a patch on its own 
   doesn't contain the required information to be a real commit.

 - but yes, you can obviously _apply_ a patch, and then commit it once you 
   add the proper information, but that does require more information than 
   just the patch itself includes.

So hopefully that clarified things.

		Linus