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I have been generating patches using 'git format-patches' to create them.

But when applying a new set of patches to correct years of inherited code something seemed out of place. At the end of each patch is a number that looks like a 'version number'. Can not find any info on it.

In the previous code this number is

2.17.0

and the newer patches (at the end of the file) say

2.7.4

The patches generated are identical except for this number. The builds succeed,and the newer patches were picked up.

My question is what is this number and its purpose? Does this number matter and should I worry about it?

If not is there a way to reset this number to match the ones in the older files?

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Reset to default
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Yes, it is literally a version number – of the git software that generated the patch. (The current release is 2.22.0, by the way.) The number was added to git-format-patch in 2005, slightly before git v1.0, and its purpose was most likely to make it easier to track down unusually formatted patches should they appear. It has no other purpose and is not read by Git.

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