diff --git a/patches/user/readme.txt b/patches/user/readme.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8bbd983
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/user/readme.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+store user patches at location patches/user and those will be applied to vscode source git by the scripts
diff --git a/prepare_vscode.sh b/prepare_vscode.sh
index db1ad10..af44fe1 100755
--- a/prepare_vscode.sh
+++ b/prepare_vscode.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,14 @@ patch -u src/vs/platform/update/electron-main/updateService.win32.ts -i ../patch
 patch -u resources/linux/rpm/code.spec.template -i ../patches/fix-rpm-spec.patch
 git apply --ignore-whitespace ../patches/binary-name.patch
 git apply --ignore-whitespace ../patches/custom-gallery.patch
+for file in ../patches/user/*.patch; do
+  if [ -f "$file" ]; then
+    echo applying user patch: $file;
+    if ! git apply --ignore-whitespace $file; then
+      echo failed to apply patch $file 1>&2
+    fi
+  fi
+done
 
 if [[ "$OS_NAME" == "osx" ]]; then
   CHILD_CONCURRENCY=1 yarn --frozen-lockfile --ignore-optional
@@ -65,27 +73,27 @@ if [[ "$OS_NAME" == "linux" ]]; then
   # as we are renaming the application to vscodium
   # we need to edit a line in the post install template
   sed -i "s/code-oss/codium/" resources/linux/debian/postinst.template
-  
+
   # fix the packages metadata
   # code.appdata.xml
   sed -i 's|Visual Studio Code|VSCodium|g' resources/linux/code.appdata.xml
   sed -i 's|https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux|https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium#download-install|' resources/linux/code.appdata.xml
   sed -i 's|https://code.visualstudio.com/home/home-screenshot-linux-lg.png|https://vscodium.com/img/vscodium.png|' resources/linux/code.appdata.xml
   sed -i 's|https://code.visualstudio.com|https://vscodium.com|' resources/linux/code.appdata.xml
-  
+
   # control.template
   sed -i 's|Microsoft Corporation <vscode-linux@microsoft.com>|VSCodium Team https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/graphs/contributors|'  resources/linux/debian/control.template
   sed -i 's|https://code.visualstudio.com|https://vscodium.com|' resources/linux/debian/control.template
   sed -i 's|Visual Studio Code|VSCodium|g' resources/linux/debian/control.template
   sed -i 's|https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux|https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium#download-install|' resources/linux/debian/control.template
-  
+
   # code.spec.template
   sed -i 's|https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux|https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium#download-install|' resources/linux/rpm/code.spec.template
   sed -i 's|Microsoft Corporation|VSCodium Team|' resources/linux/rpm/code.spec.template
   sed -i 's|Visual Studio Code Team <vscode-linux@microsoft.com>|VSCodium Team https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium/graphs/contributors|' resources/linux/rpm/code.spec.template
   sed -i 's|https://code.visualstudio.com|https://vscodium.com|' resources/linux/rpm/code.spec.template
   sed -i 's|Visual Studio Code|VSCodium|' resources/linux/rpm/code.spec.template
-  
+
   # snapcraft.yaml
   sed -i 's|Visual Studio Code|VSCodium|'  resources/linux/rpm/code.spec.template
 fi