diff patch

Make a patch:

$ diff -u oldfile newfile >> file.patch

(> overwrites, >> appends). The -u means unified format. Apply patch to (some other version of) oldfile (yes it does have to have the same name, no you don't have to specify the name, it figures out on its own which file to apply the patch to, and yes it does overwrite the old version):

$ patch > file.patch

Creating a patch that creates a new file: to do this you have to compare directories, not files. Yikes! Before doing anything else get Dreamhack up to date, and then get rid of all the clutter.

To make a patch comparing directories:

diff -u -r -N ~/temp4 ~/temp5 > folder.patch

the -r makes it recursive, and the -N means new files can be created as part of the patch.

VODO

I am very impressed with my friend Dan's project, VODO. They provide free legal bittorrent downloads of independent films, encouraging viewers to make a VOluntary DOnation to the artist. Somehow they manage to get paid for this, through mechanisms that seem to me incredibly convoluted and improbable. I watched Archon Defender not long ago, an ace bit of sci fi animation!