RLN PatchMaker, creating a patch.

This run-through is for RLN PatchMaker version 0.02 beta(4). You can download RLN PatchMaker from here if you haven't already.

A patch for SuperApp:

Suppose that we have just built a new version of our wonderful software SuperApp. The newest build of SuperApp is located in the folder C:\NewStuff\; the folder contains two files.

In the folder C:\OldStuff\ we have an older version of SuperApp. The older version consists of two files also; the executable file (SuperApp.exe) and a text-file (SomeText.txt) that is no longer relevant.

We would like our customers to get the new build of SuperApp without downloading the entire thing. Luckily they are all using the older version of SuperApp, so we will create a patch that can produce the new build from the older version on their computers.

What will be included in the patch?

RLN PatchMaker will ignore SomeText.txt because it is not found in the new build, only SuperApp.exe is found in both the older version and the new build. The file NewData.bin from the new build will be included in the ptch-archive, but it will be stored without further processing as there isn't an old version of the file to create a file-patch from.

How do we create the patch?

First we launch RLN PatchMaker ...

 and click 'Make ptch-file'.

Then we fill out the fields labeled 'Old ver.' and 'New ver.'.

• Next to 'Old ver.' we type the path for the folder with the older version of SuperApp. Double-clicking in the white space allows us to select the folder from a tree-view. We select (or type in) C:\OldStuff\ .
• Next to 'New ver.' we type the path for the folder with the new build of SuperApp. We select (or type in) C:\NewStuff\ .
• We click 'Run'!

Time for a coffee break

 the processing takes some time. By far the longest time is spent processing SuperApp.exe because a file-patch is created for this one (see above); the advantage is of course that the file-patch will be significantly smaller than SuperApp.exe itself. The ptch-archive is not compressed (in the sense of standard compression algorithms) - on the contrary - the archive is bloated such that standard compression software (such as WinRAR from RarSoft) can more easily compress it well. After some time the processing is completed, we exit RLN PatchMaker and we can send C:\Ptch-files\SuperApp.ptch to our customers.

How do we apply the patch?

We launch RLN PatchMaker ...

 and this time click 'Apply ptch-file'.

Then (again) we fill out the fields labeled 'Old ver.' and 'New ver.'.

• Next to 'Old ver.' we type the path for the folder with the older version of SuperApp. We select (or type in) C:\OldStuff\ .
• Next to 'New ver.' we type the path for a location where we want to extract the archive (patch) to. We select (or type in) C:\ .
• We check 'Create new directory named:' and type the name of a nonexistent folder next to it. We Type in "Copy of NewStuff".
• We click 'Run'!

Before long we have a brand new folder (C:\Copy of NewStuff\) containing the new build of SuperApp,

appearing just as if we had copied the NewStuff-folder in the usual way.

How do the customers apply the patch?
We don't intend to bother the customers with figuring out how to apply the patch themselves, so how is the patch applied to their computers?

You apply ptch-archives with the functions exported from the dynamic link library ptch_Upgrade.dll . The library can be found in the directory where RLN PatchMaker is installed. A crude example of how it might work out can be seen here.

For some general information about license prices for commercial use you may have a look here.