patch space

2 definitions found

patch space - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  patch space
  
     An unused block of bits left in a binary so that it can later
     be modified by insertion of machine-language instructions
     there (typically, the patch space is modified to contain new
     code, and the superseded code is patched to contain a jump or
     call to the patch space).  The widening use of HLLs has made
     this term rare; it is now primarily historical outside IBM
     shops.  See patch, zap, hook.
  
     [Jargon File]
  

patch space - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  patch space
   n.
  
     An unused block of bits left in a binary so that it can later be
     modified by insertion of machine-language instructions there
     (typically, the patch space is modified to contain new code, and the
     superseded code is patched to contain a jump or call to the patch
     space). The near-universal use of compilers and interpreters has made
     this term rare; it is now primarily historical outside IBM shops. See
     patch (sense 4), zap (sense 4), hook.