CREATION, GENERATION, DISTRIBUTION AND APPLICATION OF SELF-CONTAINED MODIFICATIONS TO SOURCE CODE

Systems for creating, generating, distributing and applying self-contained modifications (i.e., changes) to source code are described herein. At least some embodiments include a system including a client computer with processing logic, a storage device (including source code files), and a communication interface. The interface receives a container file including a transformation including a search pattern that identifies source code segments, and transformation instructions that modify the source code based at least partially on identified code segments. Processing logic software searches a representation of the source code for search pattern occurrences, and identifies the source code segments that include elements with structure and relationships that are matched by the corresponding elements represented by the search pattern. The software further modifies at least part of the source code representation according to the transformation instructions, and saves onto the storage device source code files reflecting the application of the transformation.