[darcs-devel] Theory of Patches

[Daniel Carrera]

Hello,

I have two questions:

1. Where can I learn more about the theory of patches? I already read 
the manual page (http://darcs.net/manual/node9.html). I have a math 
background, so a research paper is fine.

2. Do patches have an internal representation that is context independent?

Earlier today I was asking on the users list about whether Darcs patches 
could be signed. The idea is that if patches had (say) RSA signatures, 
Darcs would get some of the cool data integrity features that some other 
SCMs like Monotone have. The problem with signing patches is that the 
patch looks different depending on context. So I'm trying to figure out 
if there is some way to represent the patch that doesn't change between 
one context and another.


Thanks for the help.

Cheers,
Daniel.