Simplifying rollback to prior versions of patches used to fix errors in pre-installed software

A patch tool receives multiple patches, with each patch designed to fix a corresponding subset of a set of errors in a system. Some of the patches may require that the files from older patches be removed from the system. In an embodiment of the present invention, a developer of a patch is provided the flexibility to specify that a desired file from an older patch fixing a specific error, not be removed during deployment of a new patch designed to fix the same specific error. Rolling back later to the older version of the patch may be simplified by not removing the desired file.