ft_patch_package

Patch Flutter & Dart packages like React Native's patch-package.

Make fixes to packages in .pub-cache, generate portable patch files, store them in version control, and apply them automatically after flutter pub get.

Why?

When a Flutter package has a bug but the maintainer hasn't published a fix yet, you need a way to:

1. Apply your fix locally
2. Share the fix with your team
3. Survive flutter pub get / flutter clean

ft_patch_package solves this by creating portable patch files that work on any machine.

Installation

dev_dependencies:
ft_patch_package: ^1.0.0

Usage

Step 1: Create a snapshot

dart run ft_patch_package start <package_name>

This saves the original state of the package before you edit it.

Step 2: Make your changes

Edit the package files directly in .pub-cache:

~/.pub-cache/hosted/pub.dev/<package_name>-<version>/

Step 3: Generate the patch

dart run ft_patch_package done<package_name>

This creates a portable patch file at patches/<package_name>+<version>.patch.

Step 4: Commit & apply

# Commit the patches directory
git add patches/
git commit -m "Patch <package_name>: fix description"# After flutter pub get, apply patches
dart run ft_patch_package apply

Integration with Makefile

rebuild:
flutter clean
flutter pub get
dart run ft_patch_package apply

Patch file format

Patch files use the <package>+<version>.patch naming convention:

patches/
├── health+13.3.1.patch
├── camera+0.10.6.patch
└── ...

Paths inside patch files use portable a/ and b/ prefixes (no machine-specific paths).

Features

• Portable patches - No machine-specific paths. Works on any developer's machine.
• Version-aware - Matches exact package version from filename.
• Idempotent - Running apply multiple times won't break anything.
• Version mismatch warnings - Alerts when cached version differs from patch version.
• Legacy support - Works with unversioned package.patch filenames too.

Improvements over patch_package

Issue	patch_package	ft_patch_package
Portable paths	Machine-specific absolute paths	a/b/ relative paths
External commands	Requires diff and patch CLI tools	Pure Dart — no external dependencies
Version matching	First regex match (wrong version)	Exact version from filename
Cross-platform	Fails on Windows without GNU tools	Works on Windows, macOS, Linux
Terminal output	developer.log() (invisible)	print() with colors
Idempotent apply	Fails on re-apply	Detects and skips
Security	No path validation	Path traversal prevention

License

MIT