What is the difference between "patched kernel source" and the "patches that make up their kernel"? It sounds like maybe you are saying that they just provide

What is the difference between "patched kernel source" and the "patches that make up their kernel"? It sounds like maybe you are saying that they just provide the source from release to release, not the Git (or similar) history with each commit they make. But since they release the source of each release, it sounds like that satisfies the GPL, and giving customers Git history or equivalent is an additional perk.