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PATCH(1) |
FreeBSD General Commands Manual |
PATCH(1) |
patch - apply a diff file to an original
patch [options] [originalfile [patchfile]]
but usually just
patch -pnum <patchfile
patch takes a patch file patchfile containing a difference listing
produced by the diff program and applies those differences to one or
more original files, producing patched versions. Normally the patched versions
are put in place of the originals. Backups can be made; see the -b or
--backup option. The names of the files to be patched are usually taken
from the patch file, but if there's just one file to be patched it can be
specified on the command line as originalfile.
Upon startup, patch attempts to determine the type of the diff
listing, unless overruled by a -c (--context), -e
(--ed), -n (--normal), or -u (--unified)
option. Context diffs (old-style, new-style, and unified) and normal diffs
are applied by the patch program itself, while ed diffs are
simply fed to the ed(1) editor via a pipe.
patch tries to skip any leading garbage, apply the diff,
and then skip any trailing garbage. Thus you could feed an article or
message containing a diff listing to patch, and it should work. If
the entire diff is indented by a consistent amount, if lines end in CRLF, or
if a diff is encapsulated one or more times by prepending "-
" to lines starting with "-" as specified by
Internet RFC 934, this is taken into account. After removing indenting or
encapsulation, lines beginning with # are ignored, as they are
considered to be comments.
With context diffs, and to a lesser extent with normal diffs,
patch can detect when the line numbers mentioned in the patch are
incorrect, and attempts to find the correct place to apply each hunk of the
patch. As a first guess, it takes the line number mentioned for the hunk,
plus or minus any offset used in applying the previous hunk. If that is not
the correct place, patch scans both forwards and backwards for a set
of lines matching the context given in the hunk. First patch looks
for a place where all lines of the context match. If no such place is found,
and it's a context diff, and the maximum fuzz factor is set to 1 or more,
then another scan takes place ignoring the first and last line of context.
If that fails, and the maximum fuzz factor is set to 2 or more, the first
two and last two lines of context are ignored, and another scan is made.
(The default maximum fuzz factor is 2.)
Hunks with less prefix context than suffix context (after applying
fuzz) must apply at the start of the file if their first line number
is 1. Hunks with more prefix context than suffix context (after
applying fuzz) must apply at the end of the file.
If patch cannot find a place to install that hunk of the
patch, it puts the hunk out to a reject file, which normally is the name of
the output file plus a .rej suffix, or # if .rej would
generate a file name that is too long (if even appending the single
character # makes the file name too long, then # replaces the
file name's last character).
The rejected hunk comes out in unified or context diff format. If
the input was a normal diff, many of the contexts are simply null. The line
numbers on the hunks in the reject file may be different than in the patch
file: they reflect the approximate location patch thinks the failed hunks
belong in the new file rather than the old one.
As each hunk is completed, you are told if the hunk failed, and if
so which line (in the new file) patch thought the hunk should go on.
If the hunk is installed at a different line from the line number specified
in the diff, you are told the offset. A single large offset may
indicate that a hunk was installed in the wrong place. You are also told if
a fuzz factor was used to make the match, in which case you should also be
slightly suspicious. If the --verbose option is given, you are also
told about hunks that match exactly.
If no original file origfile is specified on the command
line, patch tries to figure out from the leading garbage what the
name of the file to edit is, using the following rules.
First, patch takes an ordered list of candidate file names
as follows:
- •
- If the header is that of a context diff, patch takes the old and
new file names in the header. A name is ignored if it does not have enough
slashes to satisfy the -pnum or --strip=num
option. The name /dev/null is also ignored.
- •
- If there is an Index: line in the leading garbage and if either the
old and new names are both absent or if patch is conforming to
POSIX, patch takes the name in the Index: line.
- •
- For the purpose of the following rules, the candidate file names are
considered to be in the order (old, new, index), regardless of the order
that they appear in the header.
Then patch selects a file name from the candidate list as
follows:
- •
- If some of the named files exist, patch selects the first name if
conforming to POSIX, and the best name otherwise.
- •
- If patch is not ignoring RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, and SCCS (see
the -g num or --get=num option), and no
named files exist but an RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, or SCCS master is
found, patch selects the first named file with an RCS, ClearCase,
Perforce, or SCCS master.
- •
- If no named files exist, no RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, or SCCS master was
found, some names are given, patch is not conforming to POSIX, and
the patch appears to create a file, patch selects the best name
requiring the creation of the fewest directories.
- •
- If no file name results from the above heuristics, you are asked for the
name of the file to patch, and patch selects that name.
To determine the best of a nonempty list of file names,
patch first takes all the names with the fewest path name components;
of those, it then takes all the names with the shortest basename; of those,
it then takes all the shortest names; finally, it takes the first remaining
name.
Additionally, if the leading garbage contains a Prereq:
line, patch takes the first word from the prerequisites line
(normally a version number) and checks the original file to see if that word
can be found. If not, patch asks for confirmation before
proceeding.
The upshot of all this is that you should be able to say, while in
a news interface, something like the following:
| patch -d /usr/src/local/blurfl
and patch a file in the blurfl directory directly from the
article containing the patch.
If the patch file contains more than one patch, patch tries
to apply each of them as if they came from separate patch files. This means,
among other things, that it is assumed that the name of the file to patch
must be determined for each diff listing, and that the garbage before each
diff listing contains interesting things such as file names and revision
level, as mentioned previously.
- -b or --backup
- Make backup files. That is, when patching a file, rename or copy the
original instead of removing it. When backing up a file that does not
exist, an empty, unreadable backup file is created as a placeholder to
represent the nonexistent file. See the -V or
--version-control option for details about how backup file names
are determined.
- --backup-if-mismatch
- Back up a file if the patch does not match the file exactly and if backups
are not otherwise requested. This is the default unless patch is
conforming to POSIX.
- --no-backup-if-mismatch
- Do not back up a file if the patch does not match the file exactly and if
backups are not otherwise requested. This is the default if patch
is conforming to POSIX.
- -B pref or --prefix=pref
- Use the simple method to determine backup file names (see the -V
method or --version-control method option), and
append pref to a file name when generating its backup file name.
For example, with -B /junk/ the simple backup file name for
src/patch/util.c is /junk/src/patch/util.c.
- --binary
- Write all files in binary mode, except for standard output and
/dev/tty. When reading, disable the heuristic for transforming CRLF
line endings into LF line endings. This option is needed on POSIX systems
when applying patches generated on non-POSIX systems to non-POSIX files.
(On POSIX systems, file reads and writes never transform line endings. On
Windows, reads and writes do transform line endings by default, and
patches should be generated by diff --binary when line
endings are significant.)
- -c or --context
- Interpret the patch file as a ordinary context diff.
- -d dir or --directory=dir
- Change to the directory dir immediately, before doing anything
else.
- -D define or --ifdef=define
- Use the #ifdef ... #endif construct to mark changes, with
define as the differentiating symbol.
- --dry-run
- Print the results of applying the patches without actually changing any
files.
- -e or --ed
- Interpret the patch file as an ed script.
- -E or --remove-empty-files
- Remove output files that are empty after the patches have been applied.
Normally this option is unnecessary, since patch can examine the
time stamps on the header to determine whether a file should exist after
patching. However, if the input is not a context diff or if patch
is conforming to POSIX, patch does not remove empty patched files
unless this option is given. When patch removes a file, it also
attempts to remove any empty ancestor directories.
- -f or --force
- Assume that the user knows exactly what he or she is doing, and do not ask
any questions. Skip patches whose headers do not say which file is to be
patched; patch files even though they have the wrong version for the
Prereq: line in the patch; and assume that patches are not reversed
even if they look like they are. This option does not suppress commentary;
use -s for that.
- -F num or --fuzz=num
- Set the maximum fuzz factor. This option only applies to diffs that have
context, and causes patch to ignore up to that many lines of
context in looking for places to install a hunk. Note that a larger fuzz
factor increases the odds of a faulty patch. The default fuzz factor is 2.
A fuzz factor greater than or equal to the number of lines of context in
the context diff, ordinarily 3, ignores all context.
- -g num or --get=num
- This option controls patch's actions when a file is under RCS or
SCCS control, and does not exist or is read-only and matches the default
version, or when a file is under ClearCase or Perforce control and does
not exist. If num is positive, patch gets (or checks out)
the file from the revision control system; if zero, patch ignores
RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, and SCCS and does not get the file; and if
negative, patch asks the user whether to get the file. The default
value of this option is given by the value of the PATCH_GET
environment variable if it is set; if not, the default value is zero.
- --help
- Print a summary of options and exit.
- -i patchfile or --input=patchfile
- Read the patch from patchfile. If patchfile is -,
read from standard input, the default.
- -l or --ignore-whitespace
- Match patterns loosely, in case tabs or spaces have been munged in your
files. Any sequence of one or more blanks in the patch file matches any
sequence in the original file, and sequences of blanks at the ends of
lines are ignored. Normal characters must still match exactly. Each line
of the context must still match a line in the original file.
- --merge or --merge=merge or --merge=diff3
- Merge a patch file into the original files similar to diff3(1) or
merge(1). If a conflict is found, patch outputs a warning
and brackets the conflict with <<<<<<< and
>>>>>>> lines. A typical conflict will look
like this:
<<<<<<<
lines from the original file
|||||||
original lines from the patch
=======
new lines from the patch
>>>>>>>
-
- The optional argument of --merge determines the output format for
conflicts: the diff3 format shows the ||||||| section with the
original lines from the patch; in the merge format, this section is
missing. The merge format is the default.
This option implies --forward and does not take the
--fuzz=num option into account.
- -n or --normal
- Interpret the patch file as a normal diff.
- -N or --forward
- When a patch does not apply, patch usually checks if the patch looks like
it has been applied already by trying to reverse-apply the first hunk. The
--forward option prevents that. See also -R.
- -o outfile or --output=outfile
- Send output to outfile instead of patching files in place. Do not
use this option if outfile is one of the files to be patched. When
outfile is -, send output to standard output, and send any
messages that would usually go to standard output to standard error.
- -pnum or --strip=num
- Strip the smallest prefix containing num leading slashes from each
file name found in the patch file. A sequence of one or more adjacent
slashes is counted as a single slash. This controls how file names found
in the patch file are treated, in case you keep your files in a different
directory than the person who sent out the patch. For example, supposing
the file name in the patch file was
/u/howard/src/blurfl/blurfl.c
setting -p0 gives the entire file name unmodified,
-p1 gives
u/howard/src/blurfl/blurfl.c
without the leading slash, -p4 gives
blurfl/blurfl.c
and not specifying -p at all just gives you
blurfl.c. Whatever you end up with is looked for either in the
current directory, or the directory specified by the -d option.
- --posix
- Conform more strictly to the POSIX standard, as follows.
- •
- Take the first existing file from the list (old, new, index) when
intuiting file names from diff headers.
- •
- Do not remove files that are empty after patching.
- •
- Do not ask whether to get files from RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, or
SCCS.
- •
- Require that all options precede the files in the command line.
- •
- Do not backup files when there is a mismatch.
- --quoting-style=word
- Use style word to quote output names. The word should be one
of the following:
- literal
- Output names as-is.
- shell
- Quote names for the shell if they contain shell metacharacters or would
cause ambiguous output.
- shell-always
- Quote names for the shell, even if they would normally not require
quoting.
- c
- Quote names as for a C language string.
- escape
- Quote as with c except omit the surrounding double-quote
characters.
You can specify the default value of the --quoting-style
option with the environment variable QUOTING_STYLE. If that
environment variable is not set, the default value is shell.
- -r rejectfile or --reject-file=rejectfile
- Put rejects into rejectfile instead of the default .rej
file. When rejectfile is -, discard rejects.
- -R or --reverse
- Assume that this patch was created with the old and new files swapped.
(Yes, I'm afraid that does happen occasionally, human nature being what it
is.) patch attempts to swap each hunk around before applying it.
Rejects come out in the swapped format. The -R option does not work
with ed diff scripts because there is too little information to
reconstruct the reverse operation.
If the first hunk of a patch fails, patch reverses the
hunk to see if it can be applied that way. If it can, you are asked if
you want to have the -R option set. If it can't, the patch
continues to be applied normally. (Note: this method cannot detect a
reversed patch if it is a normal diff and if the first command is an
append (i.e. it should have been a delete) since appends always succeed,
due to the fact that a null context matches anywhere. Luckily, most
patches add or change lines rather than delete them, so most reversed
normal diffs begin with a delete, which fails, triggering the
heuristic.)
- --read-only=behavior
- Behave as requested when trying to modify a read-only file: ignore
the potential problem, warn about it (the default), or
fail.
- --reject-format=format
- Produce reject files in the specified format (either context
or unified). Without this option, rejected hunks come out in
unified diff format if the input patch was of that format, otherwise in
ordinary context diff form.
- -s or --silent or --quiet
- Work silently, unless an error occurs.
- --follow-symlinks
- When looking for input files, follow symbolic links. Replaces the symbolic
links, instead of modifying the files the symbolic links point to.
Git-style patches to symbolic links will no longer apply. This option
exists for backwards compatibility with previous versions of patch; its
use is discouraged.
- -t or --batch
- Suppress questions like -f, but make some different assumptions:
skip patches whose headers do not contain file names (the same as
-f); skip patches for which the file has the wrong version for the
Prereq: line in the patch; and assume that patches are reversed if
they look like they are.
- -T or --set-time
- Set the modification and access times of patched files from time stamps
given in context diff headers. Unless specified in the time stamps, assume
that the context diff headers use local time.
Use of this option with time stamps that do not include time
zones is not recommended, because patches using local time cannot easily
be used by people in other time zones, and because local time stamps are
ambiguous when local clocks move backwards during daylight-saving time
adjustments. Make sure that time stamps include time zones, or generate
patches with UTC and use the -Z or --set-utc option
instead.
- -u or --unified
- Interpret the patch file as a unified context diff.
- -v or --version
- Print out patch's revision header and patch level, and exit.
- -V method or --version-control=method
- Use method to determine backup file names. The method can also be
given by the PATCH_VERSION_CONTROL (or, if that's not set, the
VERSION_CONTROL) environment variable, which is overridden by this
option. The method does not affect whether backup files are made; it
affects only the names of any backup files that are made.
The value of method is like the GNU Emacs
`version-control' variable; patch also recognizes synonyms that
are more descriptive. The valid values for method are (unique
abbreviations are accepted):
- existing or nil
- Make numbered backups of files that already have them, otherwise simple
backups. This is the default.
- numbered or t
- Make numbered backups. The numbered backup file name for F is
F.~N~ where N is the version
number.
- simple or never
- Make simple backups. The -B or --prefix, -Y or
--basename-prefix, and -z or --suffix options specify
the simple backup file name. If none of these options are given, then a
simple backup suffix is used; it is the value of the
SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX environment variable if set, and is
.orig otherwise.
With numbered or simple backups, if the backup file name is too
long, the backup suffix ~ is used instead; if even appending ~
would make the name too long, then ~ replaces the last character of
the file name.
- --verbose
- Output extra information about the work being done.
- -x num or --debug=num
- Set internal debugging flags of interest only to patch
patchers.
- -Y pref or --basename-prefix=pref
- Use the simple method to determine backup file names (see the -V
method or --version-control method option), and
prefix pref to the basename of a file name when generating its
backup file name. For example, with -Y .del/ the simple
backup file name for src/patch/util.c is
src/patch/.del/util.c.
- -z suffix or --suffix=suffix
- Use the simple method to determine backup file names (see the -V
method or --version-control method option), and
use suffix as the suffix. For example, with -z - the
backup file name for src/patch/util.c is
src/patch/util.c-.
- -Z or --set-utc
- Set the modification and access times of patched files from time stamps
given in context diff headers. Unless specified in the time stamps, assume
that the context diff headers use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, often
known as GMT). Also see the -T or --set-time option.
The -Z or --set-utc and -T or
--set-time options normally refrain from setting a file's time if
the file's original time does not match the time given in the patch
header, or if its contents do not match the patch exactly. However, if
the -f or --force option is given, the file time is set
regardless.
Due to the limitations of diff output format, these
options cannot update the times of files whose contents have not
changed. Also, if you use these options, you should remove (e.g. with
make clean) all files that depend on the patched files, so
that later invocations of make do not get confused by the patched
files' times.
- PATCH_GET
- This specifies whether patch gets missing or read-only files from
RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, or SCCS by default; see the -g or
--get option.
- POSIXLY_CORRECT
- If set, patch conforms more strictly to the POSIX standard by
default: see the --posix option.
- QUOTING_STYLE
- Default value of the --quoting-style option.
- SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX
- Extension to use for simple backup file names instead of
.orig.
- TMPDIR, TMP, TEMP
- Directory to put temporary files in; patch uses the first
environment variable in this list that is set. If none are set, the
default is system-dependent; it is normally /tmp on Unix
hosts.
- VERSION_CONTROL or PATCH_VERSION_CONTROL
- Selects version control style; see the -v or
--version-control option.
- $TMPDIR/p*
- temporary files
- /dev/tty
- controlling terminal; used to get answers to questions asked of the
user
diff(1), ed(1), merge(1).
Marshall T. Rose and Einar A. Stefferud, Proposed Standard for
Message Encapsulation, Internet RFC 934
<URL:ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc934.txt> (1985-01).
There are several things you should bear in mind if you are going to be sending
out patches.
Create your patch systematically. A good method is the command
diff -Naur old new where old and
new identify the old and new directories. The names old and
new should not contain any slashes. The diff command's headers
should have dates and times in Universal Time using traditional Unix format,
so that patch recipients can use the -Z or --set-utc option.
Here is an example command, using Bourne shell syntax:
LC_ALL=C TZ=UTC0 diff -Naur gcc-2.7 gcc-2.8
Tell your recipients how to apply the patch by telling them which
directory to cd to, and which patch options to use. The option
string -Np1 is recommended. Test your procedure by pretending to be a
recipient and applying your patch to a copy of the original files.
You can save people a lot of grief by keeping a
patchlevel.h file which is patched to increment the patch level as
the first diff in the patch file you send out. If you put a Prereq:
line in with the patch, it won't let them apply patches out of order without
some warning.
You can create a file by sending out a diff that compares
/dev/null or an empty file dated the Epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC)
to the file you want to create. This only works if the file you want to
create doesn't exist already in the target directory. Conversely, you can
remove a file by sending out a context diff that compares the file to be
deleted with an empty file dated the Epoch. The file will be removed unless
patch is conforming to POSIX and the -E or
--remove-empty-files option is not given. An easy way to generate
patches that create and remove files is to use GNU diff's -N
or --new-file option.
If the recipient is supposed to use the -pN option,
do not send output that looks like this:
diff -Naur v2.0.29/prog/README
prog/README
--- v2.0.29/prog/README Mon Mar 10 15:13:12 1997
+++ prog/README Mon Mar 17 14:58:22 1997
because the two file names have different numbers of slashes, and
different versions of patch interpret the file names differently. To
avoid confusion, send output that looks like this instead:
diff -Naur v2.0.29/prog/README
v2.0.30/prog/README
--- v2.0.29/prog/README Mon Mar 10 15:13:12 1997
+++ v2.0.30/prog/README Mon Mar 17 14:58:22 1997
Avoid sending patches that compare backup file names like
README.orig, since this might confuse patch into patching a
backup file instead of the real file. Instead, send patches that compare the
same base file names in different directories, e.g. old/README and
new/README.
Take care not to send out reversed patches, since it makes people
wonder whether they already applied the patch.
Try not to have your patch modify derived files (e.g. the file
configure where there is a line configure: configure.in in
your makefile), since the recipient should be able to regenerate the derived
files anyway. If you must send diffs of derived files, generate the diffs
using UTC, have the recipients apply the patch with the -Z or
--set-utc option, and have them remove any unpatched files that
depend on patched files (e.g. with make clean).
While you may be able to get away with putting 582 diff listings
into one file, it may be wiser to group related patches into separate files
in case something goes haywire.
Diagnostics generally indicate that patch couldn't parse your patch file.
If the --verbose option is given, the message Hmm...
indicates that there is unprocessed text in the patch file and that
patch is attempting to intuit whether there is a patch in that text
and, if so, what kind of patch it is.
patch's exit status is 0 if all hunks are applied
successfully, 1 if some hunks cannot be applied or there were merge
conflicts, and 2 if there is more serious trouble. When applying a set of
patches in a loop it behooves you to check this exit status so you don't
apply a later patch to a partially patched file.
Context diffs cannot reliably represent the creation or deletion of empty files,
empty directories, or special files such as symbolic links. Nor can they
represent changes to file metadata like ownership, permissions, or whether one
file is a hard link to another. If changes like these are also required,
separate instructions (e.g. a shell script) to accomplish them should
accompany the patch.
patch cannot tell if the line numbers are off in an
ed script, and can detect bad line numbers in a normal diff only when
it finds a change or deletion. A context diff using fuzz factor 3 may have
the same problem. You should probably do a context diff in these cases to
see if the changes made sense. Of course, compiling without errors is a
pretty good indication that the patch worked, but not always.
patch usually produces the correct results, even when it
has to do a lot of guessing. However, the results are guaranteed to be
correct only when the patch is applied to exactly the same version of the
file that the patch was generated from.
The POSIX standard specifies behavior that differs from patch's
traditional behavior. You should be aware of these differences if you must
interoperate with patch versions 2.1 and earlier, which do not conform
to POSIX.
- •
- In traditional patch, the -p option's operand was optional,
and a bare -p was equivalent to -p0. The -p option
now requires an operand, and -p 0 is now equivalent to
-p0. For maximum compatibility, use options like -p0 and
-p1.
Also, traditional patch simply counted slashes when
stripping path prefixes; patch now counts pathname components.
That is, a sequence of one or more adjacent slashes now counts as a
single slash. For maximum portability, avoid sending patches containing
// in file names.
- •
- In traditional patch, backups were enabled by default. This
behavior is now enabled with the -b or --backup option.
Conversely, in POSIX patch, backups are never made,
even when there is a mismatch. In GNU patch, this behavior is
enabled with the --no-backup-if-mismatch option, or by conforming
to POSIX with the --posix option or by setting the
POSIXLY_CORRECT environment variable.
The -b suffix option of traditional
patch is equivalent to the
-b -z suffix options of GNU
patch.
- •
- Traditional patch used a complicated (and incompletely documented)
method to intuit the name of the file to be patched from the patch header.
This method did not conform to POSIX, and had a few gotchas. Now
patch uses a different, equally complicated (but better documented)
method that is optionally POSIX-conforming; we hope it has fewer gotchas.
The two methods are compatible if the file names in the context diff
header and the Index: line are all identical after
prefix-stripping. Your patch is normally compatible if each header's file
names all contain the same number of slashes.
- •
- When traditional patch asked the user a question, it sent the
question to standard error and looked for an answer from the first file in
the following list that was a terminal: standard error, standard output,
/dev/tty, and standard input. Now patch sends questions to
standard output and gets answers from /dev/tty. Defaults for some
answers have been changed so that patch never goes into an infinite
loop when using default answers.
- •
- Traditional patch exited with a status value that counted the
number of bad hunks, or with status 1 if there was real trouble. Now
patch exits with status 1 if some hunks failed, or with 2 if there
was real trouble.
- •
- Limit yourself to the following options when sending instructions meant to
be executed by anyone running GNU patch, traditional patch,
or a patch that conforms to POSIX. Spaces are significant in the
following list, and operands are required.
-c
-d dir
-D define
-e
-l
-n
-N
-o outfile
-pnum
-R
-r rejectfile
Please report bugs via email to <bug-patch@gnu.org>.
If code has been duplicated (for instance with #ifdef
OLDCODE ... #else ... #endif), patch is incapable of
patching both versions, and, if it works at all, will likely patch the wrong
one, and tell you that it succeeded to boot.
If you apply a patch you've already applied, patch thinks
it is a reversed patch, and offers to un-apply the patch. This could be
construed as a feature.
Computing how to merge a hunk is significantly harder than using
the standard fuzzy algorithm. Bigger hunks, more context, a bigger offset
from the original location, and a worse match all slow the algorithm
down.
Copyright (C) 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 Larry Wall.
Copyright (C) 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission
notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be included in translations
approved by the copyright holders instead of in the original English.
Larry Wall wrote the original version of patch. Paul Eggert removed
patch's arbitrary limits; added support for binary files, setting file
times, and deleting files; and made it conform better to POSIX. Other
contributors include Wayne Davison, who added unidiff support, and David
MacKenzie, who added configuration and backup support. Andreas
Grünbacher added support for merging.
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