patches

v. cover a hole with a piece of material; use as a patch, use to cover a hole

n. area of fabric used to repair a hole; stain; bandage; lot, plot of land; small repair to a program which adds or changes only a small part of the program (Computers)

A patch can refer to:Textilesa piece of textile or fabric used to repair a hole in a larger piecean eyepatch, used in the treatment of eye disorders such as amblyopia or strabismus (referred to as patching), or for aesthetic purposes in covering an injured or missing eye
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Noun
1. a small contrasting part of something; "a bald spot"; "a leopard's spots"; "a patch of clouds"; "patches of thin ice"; "a fleck of red"
(synonym) spot, speckle, dapple, fleck, maculation
(hypernym) marking
(hyponym) speck, pinpoint
2. a small area of ground covered by specific vegetation; "a bean plot"; "a cabbage patch"; "a briar patch"
(synonym) plot, plot of ground
(hypernym) tract, piece of land, piece of ground, parcel of land, parcel
(hyponym) bed
3. a piece of cloth used as decoration or to mend or cover a hole
(hypernym) piece of cloth, piece of material
(hyponym) flash
(derivation) piece
4. a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition; "he was here for a little while"; "I need to rest for a piece"; "a spell of good weather"; "a patch of bad weather"
(synonym) while, piece, spell
(hypernym) time
(hyponym) cold spell, cold snap
5. a short set of commands to correct a bug in a computer program
(hypernym) program, programme, computer program, computer programme
6. a connection intended to be used for a limited time
(synonym) temporary hookup
(hypernym) connection, connexion, connector, connecter, connective
7. sewing or darning that repairs a worn or torn hole (especially in a garment); "her stockings had several mends"
(synonym) mend, darn
(hypernym) sewing, stitchery
(derivation) patch up
8. a protective cloth covering for an injured eye
(synonym) eyepatch
(hypernym) cloth covering
9. a piece of soft material that covers and protects an injured part of the body
(synonym) bandage
(hypernym) dressing, medical dressing
(hyponym) adhesive bandage
(part-meronym) gauze, gauze bandage
Verb
1. to join or unite the pieces of; "patch the skirt"
(synonym) piece
(hypernym) join, conjoin
(hyponym) vamp, vamp up
(derivation) mend, darn
2. provide with a patch; also used metaphorically; "The field was patched with snow"
(hypernym) supply, provide, render, furnish
(derivation) spot, speckle, dapple, fleck, maculation
3. mend by putting a patch on; "patch a hole"
(synonym) patch up
(hypernym) repair, mend, fix, bushel, doctor, furbish up, restore, touch on
(see-also) reconcile, patch up, make up, conciliate, settle
(derivation) mend, darn
4. repair by adding pieces; "She pieced the china cup"
(synonym) piece
(hypernym) repair, mend, fix, bushel, doctor, furbish up, restore, touch on

<software> 1. A temporary addition to a piece of code, usually as a quick-and-dirty remedy to an existing bug or misfeature. A patch may or may not work, and may or may not eventually be incorporated permanently into the program. Distinguished from a diff or mod by the fact that a patch is generated by more primitive means than the rest of the program; the classical examples are instructions modified by using the front panel switches, and changes made directly to the binary executable of a program originally written in an HLL. Compare one-line fix.
2. To insert a patch into a piece of code.
3. [in the Unix world] A diff.
4. A set of modifications to binaries to be applied by a patching program. IBM systems often receive updates to the operating system in the form of absolute hexadecimal patches. If you have modified your OS, you have to disassemble these back to the source code. The patches might later be corrected by other patches on top of them (patches were said to "grow scar tissue"). The result was often a convoluted patch space and headaches galore.
There is a classic story of a tiger team penetrating a secure military computer that illustrates the danger inherent in binary patches (or, indeed, any patches that you can't - or don't - inspect and examine before installing). They couldn't find any trap doors or any way to penetrate security of IBM's OS, so they made a site visit to an IBM office (remember, these were official military types who were purportedly on official business), swiped some IBM stationery, and created a fake patch. The patch was actually the trapdoor they needed. The patch was distributed at about the right time for an IBM patch, had official stationery and all accompanying documentation, and was dutifully installed. The installation manager very shortly thereafter learned something about proper procedures.
5. Larry Wall's "patch" utility, which automatically applies a patch to a set of source code or other text files. It accepts input in any of the four forms output by the Unix diff utility and uses many helpful heuristics to determine how to apply them.
Diff and patch are the standard way of producing and applying updates to Unix files ditributed via Usenet and the Internet, both have been ported to other operating systems.
See your nearest GNU archive site.
[Jargon File]
(1996-06-04)

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