Written by &name-albert-den-haan; &email-albert-den-haan; Your patch should include: a description of what was wrong and what is now better (and now broken :). your contact information ( Name/Handle and e-mail ) the patch in diff -u format (it happens...) cvs diff -u works great for the common case where a file is edited. However, if you add or remove a file cvs diff will not report that correctly so make sure you explicitly take care of this rare case. For additions: mention that you have some new files and include them as either separate attachments or by appending the diff -u /dev/null /my/new/file output of them to any cvs diff -u output you may have. Alternatively, use diff -Nu olddir/ newdir/ in case of multiple new files to add. For removals, list the files. (Or, "How do I get Alexandre to apply my patch quickly so I can build on it and it will not go stale?") Make sure your patch applies to the current CVS head revisions. If a bunch of patches are commited to CVS that may affect whether your patch will apply cleanly then verify that your patch does apply! cvs update is your friend! Save yourself some embarasment and run your patched code against more than just your current test example. Experience will tell you how much effort to apply here.