changes to upstream sources/HOWTO patch

[Bastian Venthur <expires-2006@venthur.de>]

Hi Mentors,

I've noticed that some packages contain a debian/patches-dir and I'm curious
how this works. I think I need to patch one of my packages myself so I'm
looking for some documentation. The Debian policy [1] does not really help
since the part about "changes to upstream sources" is quite short.

1. http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-source.html#s4.3

Can someone explain to me how to apply patches to upstream sources "the
right way" or point me to an appropriate document?


Kind regards

Bastian