It is necessary for the patching mechanism to inform users of changes in configuration files (standalone.xml, domain.xml, ...), that has been since last release.

As these files are not a patch, the possible changes do not propagate to customers in any form and the patch is successful though incomplete. It's crucial to inform them in some ways, what steps should be taken to get a full-patch version e.g. The CLI / Web Console might link to the Knowledge Article with lines that have to be added in customer's configuration.

Moreove, with any configuration change in these files, there is an increasing discrepancy between ZIP and RPMs distribution.