[nzlug] Kernels (again) and patching

[Nevyn]

On Dec 2, 2007 7:03 PM, Glenn Enright <glenn.enright at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 02/12/2007, Nevyn <nevynh at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Does anyone know of a way to figure out if a kernel has any patches applied?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Nevyn.
> >
>
>
> Do you mean a source or binary kernel? Linux or BSD or something else?
>
> Most distro kernels will publish change logs and have a set of
> standard changes they apply to a vanilla kernel. Otherwise an unknown
> source code kernel is probably best checked using a diff tool and some
> educated guessing.
>
> Also, from my readings in linux-kernel mailing lists, maintainers use
> git (revision control system) to determine which patches have been
> applied to a generated source, but you'll need to google for docs to
> find out how they do that.
>
> Regards, Glenn.

Sorry - my briefness surprises even me. It's a Linux kernel, compiled
and configured by someone else. I'm trying to find out if he's
compiled any functionality into the kernel which isn't part of the
standard kernel. From what I can tell so far, it's probably a vanilla
kernel based upon the configuration file - it's got a lot less options
in there than the stock standard Debian kernel from around the same
sort of time.