در صنعت باز متن
استفاده از patch بسیار متداول
است.با استفاده از این امکان بسیاری از مشکلات در کوتاه ترین زمان ها حل می شوند و
شاید از بروز بسیاری مشکلات جلوگیری کنند.در مقاله Creating and using patches از
Developer Channels توضیح داده شده است که چگونه با استفاده از
patch و
diff
مشکلات ابتدایی و ساده در نرم افزار ها را برطرف کرد.
patch and diff are staple tools of the open source and free software communities. They are used by virtually all developers who generate or apply software updates, either directly from the command line, or indirectly though wrapping tools like CVS. They are powerful, yet simple to understand and use, so anyone who wants to contribute code only needs to spend a short time learning to use them. They are an excellent solution to the most basic problem of distributed software development.