The patches.tgz contains all the patches that are necc. to create the versions released by Tels, starting with the diff from v1.20.0 to v1.20.2 version from the given last "official" release. The reason that they are packed is simple that further patches won't need MANIFEST changes, which would require yet another patch, which would require yet another MANIFEST change etc etc. Also, for the same reason, the diff for the SIGNATURE file and for the patches/ subdir are not included in the patches themselves, since the signature line for a patch file cannot be created before the patch exists, but this change to the SIGNATURE file would require a change to the patch etc, I think you get the idea. This version of SDL_perl is not the official release and maintained by Tels. Send feedback or comments to Tels at .