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GPATCH(1)							     GPATCH(1)

NAME
       gpatch - apply a diff file to an original

SYNOPSIS
       gpatch [options] [originalfile [patchfile]]

       but usually just

       gpatch -pnum <patchfile

DESCRIPTION
       gpatch  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 specified on the command line as originalfile.

       Upon  startup,  gpatch attempts to determine the type of the diff list‐
       ing, unless overruled by a -c (--context), -e (--ed), -n (--normal), or
       -u  (--unified)	option.	 Context diffs (old-style, new-style, and uni‐
       fied) and normal diffs are applied by the gpatch program itself,	 while
       ed diffs are simply fed to the ed(1) editor via a pipe.

       gpatch tries to skip any leading garbage, apply the diff, and then skip
       any trailing garbage.  Thus you could feed an article or	 message  con‐
       taining	a  diff	 listing to gpatch, and it should work.	 If the entire
       diff is indented by a consistent amount, or if a context diff  contains
       lines ending in CRLF or 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  com‐
       ments.

       With  context  diffs,  and to a lesser extent with normal diffs, gpatch
       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, gpatch scans both forwards and backwards for	a  set
       of  lines  matching  the context given in the hunk.  First gpatch 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.)  If
       gpatch 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 ordinary context diff form regardless of the
       input patch's form.  If the input was a normal diff, many of  the  con‐
       texts  are  simply  null.)  The line numbers on the hunks in the reject
       file may be different than in the patch file: they reflect the approxi‐
       mate  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) gpatch thought the hunk should go on.  If
       the hunk is installed at a different line from the line	number	speci‐
       fied  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, gpatch
       tries to figure out from the leading garbage what the name of the  file
       to edit is, using the following rules.

       First, gpatch takes an ordered list of candidate file names as follows:

	· If  the  header  is that of a context diff, gpatch 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 gpatch is conforming to
	  POSIX, gpatch 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 gpatch selects a file name from the candidate list as follows:

	· If some of the named files exist, gpatch selects the first  name  if
	  conforming to POSIX, and the best name otherwise.

	· If  gpatch  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, gpatch selects
	  the first named file with an RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, or SCCS  mas‐
	  ter.

	· If no named files exist, no RCS, ClearCase, Perforce, or SCCS master
	  was found, some names are given, gpatch is not conforming to	POSIX,
	  and the patch appears to create a file, gpatch 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 gpatch selects that name.

       To  determine  the  best of a nonempty list of file names, gpatch 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, gpatch
       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, gpatch 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:

	  | gpatch -d /usr/src/local/blurfl

       and patch a file in the blurfl directory directly from the article con‐
       taining the patch.

       If the patch file contains more than one patch, gpatch 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.

OPTIONS
       -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 --ver‐
	  sion-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
	  gpatch 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
	  gpatch is conforming to POSIX.

       -B pref	or  --prefix=pref
	  Prefix pref to a file name when generating its  simple  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
	  Read and write all files in binary mode, except for standard	output
	  and  /dev/tty.   This	 option has no effect on POSIX-conforming sys‐
	  tems.	 On systems like DOS where this option makes a difference, the
	  patch should be generated by diff -a --binary.

       -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  gpatch  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	gpatch	is conforming to POSIX, gpatch does not remove
	  empty patched files  unless  this  option  is	 given.	  When	gpatch
	  removes a file, it also attempts to remove any empty ancestor direc‐
	  tories.

       -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 gpatch to ignore up to that many  lines  in
	  looking  for places to install a hunk.  Note that a larger fuzz fac‐
	  tor increases the odds of a faulty patch.  The default  fuzz	factor
	  is 2, and it may not be set to more than the number of lines of con‐
	  text in the context diff, ordinarily 3.

       -g num  or  --get=num
	  This option controls gpatch'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  con‐
	  trol and does not exist.  If num is positive, gpatch gets (or checks
	  out) the file from the revision  control  system;  if	 zero,	gpatch
	  ignores  RCS,	 ClearCase,  Perforce,	and  SCCS and does not get the
	  file; and if negative, gpatch 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 if gpatch is conforming to POSIX, negative otherwise.

       --help
	  Print a summary of options and exit.

       -i patchfile  or	 --input=patchfile
	  Read	the  patch from patchfile.  If patchfile is -, read from stan‐
	  dard 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.

       -n  or  --normal
	  Interpret the patch file as a normal diff.

       -N  or  --forward
	  Ignore  patches  that	 seem  to be reversed or already applied.  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.

       -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	 adja‐
	  cent	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 metacharac‐
		 ters 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 vari‐
	  able is not set, the default value is shell.

       -r rejectfile  or  --reject-file=rejectfile
	  Put rejects into rejectfile instead of the default .rej file.

       -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.)  gpatch 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  lit‐
	  tle information to reconstruct the reverse operation.

	  If  the first hunk of a patch fails, gpatch 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.)

       -s  or  --silent	 or  --quiet
	  Work silently, unless an error occurs.

       -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, assuming that the context diff
	  headers use local time.  This option	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.
	  Instead of using this option, 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 gpatch'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  VER‐
	  SION_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' vari‐
	  able; gpatch 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-pre‐
	     fix, 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 envi‐
	     ronment 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 gpatch patchers.

       -Y pref	or  --basename-prefix=pref
	  Prefix pref to the basename of a file name when generating its  sim‐
	  ple  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 suffix as the simple backup suffix.  For example, with -z -  the
	  simple  backup  file name for src/patch/util.c is src/patch/util.c-.
	  The backup suffix may also be specified by the  SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX
	  environment variable, which is overridden by this option.

       -Z  or  --set-utc
	  Set  the  modification  and  access times of patched files from time
	  stamps given in context diff headers, assuming 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.

ENVIRONMENT
       PATCH_GET
	  This specifies whether gpatch gets missing or read-only  files  from
	  RCS,	ClearCase,  Perforce,  or SCCS by default; see the -g or --get
	  option.

       POSIXLY_CORRECT
	  If set, gpatch 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; gpatch uses the first environ‐
	  ment 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.

FILES
       $TMPDIR/p∗
	  temporary files

       /dev/tty
	  controlling terminal; used to get answers to questions asked of  the
	  user

SEE ALSO
       diff(1), ed(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).

NOTES FOR PATCH SENDERS
       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 directo‐
       ries.  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 syn‐
       tax:

	  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 gpatch options to use.  The option string
       -Np1 is recommended.  Test your procedure by pretending to be a recipi‐
       ent and applying your patch to a copy of the original files.

       You  can	 save  people  a  lot of grief by keeping a gpatchlevel.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
       gpatch 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 dif‐
       ferent versions of gpatch 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 gpatch 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  won‐
       der whether they already applied the patch.

       Try  not to have your patch modify derived files (e.g. the file config‐
       ure where there is a line configure: configure.in  in  your  makefile),
       since the recipient should be able to regenerate the derived files any‐
       way.  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
       Diagnostics  generally  indicate	 that gpatch 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 gpatch is attempt‐
       ing to intuit whether there is a patch in that text and,	 if  so,  what
       kind of patch it is.

       gpatch's	 exit  status is 0 if all hunks are applied successfully, 1 if
       some hunks cannot be applied, 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.

CAVEATS
       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.

       gpatch 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	 prob‐
       lem.  Until a suitable interactive interface is added, you should prob‐
       ably 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.

       gpatch 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.

COMPATIBILITY ISSUES
       The  POSIX standard specifies behavior that differs from patch's tradi‐
       tional behavior.	 You should be aware of these differences if you  must
       interoperate with gpatch 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 oper‐
	  and, 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;  gpatch  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 behav‐
	  ior 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 vari‐
	  able.

	  The -b suffix option of  traditional	patch  is  equivalent  to  the
	  -b -z suffix options of GNU gpatch.

	· 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 gpatch uses a different, equally complicated (but bet‐
	  ter  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 identi‐
	  cal 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 ques‐
	  tion 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 gpatch sends questions to
	  standard  output  and gets answers from /dev/tty.  Defaults for some
	  answers have been changed so that gpatch 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
	  gpatch  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 gpatch, 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

BUGS
       Please report bugs via email to <bug-patch@gnu.org>.

       gpatch could be smarter about partial matches, excessively deviant off‐
       sets and swapped code, but that would take an extra pass.

       If code has been duplicated (for instance with #ifdef OLDCODE ... #else
       ...  #endif), gpatch 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, gpatch thinks it is a
       reversed patch, and offers to un-apply the patch.  This could  be  con‐
       strued as a feature.

COPYING
       Copyright (C) 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 Larry Wall.
       Copyright  (C)  1989,  1990,  1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997,
       1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 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  per‐
       mission notice identical to this one.

       Permission  is granted to copy and distribute translations of this man‐
       ual into another language, under the above conditions for modified ver‐
       sions,  except  that this permission notice may be included in transla‐
       tions approved by the copyright holders instead of in the original Eng‐
       lish.

AUTHORS
       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.

NOTES
       Source for gpatch is available in the SUNWgpchS package.

GNU				  2002/05/25			     GPATCH(1)
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