diff --git a/kernel.spec b/kernel.spec
index 929d7eb0c..d2b44e420 100644
--- a/kernel.spec
+++ b/kernel.spec
@@ -1057,6 +1057,42 @@ if [ "%{patches}" != "%%{patches}" ] ; then
   done
 fi 2>/dev/null
 
+patch_command='patch -p1 -F1 -s'
+ApplyPatch()
+{
+  local patch=$1
+  shift
+  if [ ! -f $RPM_SOURCE_DIR/$patch ]; then
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  if ! grep -E "^Patch[0-9]+: $patch\$" %{_specdir}/${RPM_PACKAGE_NAME%%%%%{?variant}}.spec ; then
+    if [ "${patch:0:8}" != "patch-5." ] ; then
+      echo "ERROR: Patch  $patch  not listed as a source patch in specfile"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+  fi 2>/dev/null
+  case "$patch" in
+  *.bz2) bunzip2 < "$RPM_SOURCE_DIR/$patch" | $patch_command ${1+"$@"} ;;
+  *.gz)  gunzip  < "$RPM_SOURCE_DIR/$patch" | $patch_command ${1+"$@"} ;;
+  *.xz)  unxz    < "$RPM_SOURCE_DIR/$patch" | $patch_command ${1+"$@"} ;;
+  *) $patch_command ${1+"$@"} < "$RPM_SOURCE_DIR/$patch" ;;
+  esac
+}
+
+# don't apply patch if it's empty
+ApplyOptionalPatch()
+{
+  local patch=$1
+  shift
+  if [ ! -f $RPM_SOURCE_DIR/$patch ]; then
+    exit 1
+  fi
+  local C=$(wc -l $RPM_SOURCE_DIR/$patch | awk '{print $1}')
+  if [ "$C" -gt 9 ]; then
+    ApplyPatch $patch ${1+"$@"}
+  fi
+}
+
 # First we unpack the kernel tarball.
 # If this isn't the first make prep, we use links to the existing clean tarball
 # which speeds things up quite a bit.