linux-kernel - Re: Comparing linux kernel trees.

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Date:	Sun, 20 Jan 2013 16:06:48 +0000
From:	James Courtier-Dutton <james.dutton@...il.com>
To:	Clemens Ladisch <clemens@...isch.de>
Cc:	LKML Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: Comparing linux kernel trees.

On 20 January 2013 13:27, Clemens Ladisch <clemens@...isch.de> wrote:
> James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
>> I have been given a linux kernel sources tar file.
>> It contains a modified version of the linux kernel.
>> It is just source files, without any "git" history.
>> What I would like to do is compare this with the mainline linux kernel
>> git tree, and find the tag from the kernel git tree that this source
>> code is most similar to.
>
> The kernel *knows* which version it is.
>
>> My plan at the moment is just to automate a checkout of every git tag,
>> then run diff -ur on it, and then choose the smallest diff files
>> output.n
>> But, has anyone got a better method?
>
> head -5 Makefile
>
I forgot to mention that in this particular situation, use of the
Makefile does not help.
The linux tree is a tar file to tar over the top of an existing
mainline tree. e.g. Kernel 3.2
It includes the following directories:
drivers
firmware
include
sound

I was wanting to somehow take the include directory, and find out
which kernel version best matches the include in the tar file.
The do the same for the other directories.
I guess I am looking for a sort of git bisect, but instead of finding
a bug, finding a version that best matches some source files.

In the mean time, I have done the diff -ur method on various tags, and
found that kernel 3.2.5 is the best match.
I now have a much smaller patch file, that I can start to get working
with the latest git tree.

Kind Regards

James
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