A patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update, fix, or improve it. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, with such patches usually being called bugfixes or bug fixes. For minor changes to software, it is often easier and more economical to distribute patches to users rather than redistributing a newly recompiled program.
About Patch (computing) in brief
A patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update, fix, or improve it. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, with such patches usually being called bugfixes or bug fixes. Patches are often written to improve the functionality, usability, or performance of a program. Patching makes possible the modification of compiled and machine language object programs when the source code is unavailable. For minor changes to software, it is often easier and more economical to distribute patches to users rather than redistributing a newly recompiled or reassembled program. Although meant to fix problems, poorly designed patches can sometimes introduce new problems. In some special cases updates may knowingly break the functionality or disable a device, for instance, by removing components for which the update provider is no longer licensed. Bulky patches or patches that significantly change a program may circulate as’service packs’ or’software updates’ Microsoft Windows NT and its successors use the’service pack’ terminology. Apple’s Mac OS 9 and Microsoft Windows ME gained the ability to get automatic software updates via the Internet. Computer programs can often coordinate patches to update a target program. Automation simplifies the end-user’s task– that makes sure that updating an program takes place completely correctly and that the target program is updated correctly. The term ‘patch’ is often used to refer to a small fix, but large fixes may use different nomenclature, such as ‘bugfix’ and ‘bug fix’ Patches can also circulate in the form of source code modifications, called ‘diffs’ These types of patches commonly come out of open-source software projects.
They may be applied to program files on a storage device, or in computer memory. Pathes may be permanent or temporary. They can be installed either under programmed control or by a human programmer using an editing tool or a debugger. The patches are often distributed as data files containing the patch code. These data files are read by a patch utility program which performs the installation. When executed these files load a program into memory which manages the installation of the patchcode into the target programs on disk. When the patched program is run, execution is directed to the new code with branch instructions patched over the place in the old code where the newcode is needed. The patch utility will append a load record containing the new patch code to the object file of the targetprogram being patched. This demands a thorough understanding of the inner workings of the object code by the person creating the patch, which is difficult without close study of theSource code. Someone unfamiliar with the program being patched may install a patch using a patch Utility created by another person who is the Admin. The patches can also be downloaded from a developer’s CD-ROM or, later, from the software developer’s web site or via Internet access via automated software updates through the web site. In these cases, developers expect users to compile the new or changed files themselves. Historically, software suppliers distributed patches on paper tape or on punched cards, expecting the recipient to cut out the indicated part of the original tape, Later patch distributions used magnetic disk drives.
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This page is based on the article Patch (computing) published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 08, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
