> I stumbled across some files with the name *.patch. I then searched the
> entire GIT tree and found these:
<snip>

Some of the python/perl patches are used by the build system IIRC, however
most of the others are cruft.  Right away I would remove all of the
patches that reside in the main GIT tree (not the packaging tree) under
any distro-specific (e.g. "debian/", "ubuntu/", etc.) folders, as they are
obviously not needed any more.

Tim