This package uses dpatch in order to apply patches to the upstream source. Patches are stored in debian/patches and their filenames usually end in .dpatch . For further details, see the man pages for dpatch and dpatch-edit-patch. All commands described below should be run from the top directory of the package source tree, unless otherwise stated. * To generate the fully patched source, in a form ready for editing, that would be built to create Debian packages, run: dpatch apply-all Note: This should happen automatically when you run dpkg-source -x on a dpatch source package. * To modify the source and save those modifications so that they will be applied when building the package, pick a suitably informative patch file name, for example 01_add_README.source_file.dpatch, and then run: dpatch-edit-patch 01_add_README.source_file.dpatch This will place you in a new shell in a temporary copy of the source tree. Make your desired modifications to it, and then exit the shell to create the patch file containing them (this file will appear in debian/patches). * To remove source modifications that are currently being applied when building the package, run: dpatch unapply-all