1PATCH(1) General Commands Manual PATCH(1)
2
6 patch - apply a diff file to an original
7
9 patch [options] [originalfile [patchfile]]
10 but usually just
12 patch -pnum <patchfile
14
16 patch takes a patch file patchfile containing a difference listing pro‐
17 duced by the diff program and applies those differences to one or more
18 original files, producing patched versions. Normally the patched ver‐
19 sions are put in place of the originals. Backups can be made; see the
20 -b or --backup option. The names of the files to be patched are usu‐
21 ally taken from the patch file, but if there's just one file to be
22 patched it can specified on the command line as originalfile.
23 Upon startup, patch attempts to determine the type of the diff listing,
25 unless overruled by a -c (--context), -e (--ed), -n (--normal), or -u
26 (--unified) option. Context diffs (old-style, new-style, and unified)
27 and normal diffs are applied by the patch program itself, while ed
28 diffs are simply fed to the ed(1) editor via a pipe.
29 patch tries to skip any leading garbage, apply the diff, and then skip
31 any trailing garbage. Thus you could feed an article or message con‐
32 taining a diff listing to patch, and it should work. If the entire
33 diff is indented by a consistent amount, or if a context diff contains
34 lines ending in CRLF or is encapsulated one or more times by prepending
35 "- " to lines starting with "-" as specified by Internet RFC 934, this
36 is taken into account.
37 With context diffs, and to a lesser extent with normal diffs, patch can
39 detect when the line numbers mentioned in the patch are incorrect, and
40 attempts to find the correct place to apply each hunk of the patch. As
41 a first guess, it takes the line number mentioned for the hunk, plus or
42 minus any offset used in applying the previous hunk. If that is not
43 the correct place, patch scans both forwards and backwards for a set of
44 lines matching the context given in the hunk. First patch looks for a
45 place where all lines of the context match. If no such place is found,
46 and it's a context diff, and the maximum fuzz factor is set to 1 or
47 more, then another scan takes place ignoring the first and last line of
48 context. If that fails, and the maximum fuzz factor is set to 2 or
49 more, the first two and last two lines of context are ignored, and
50 another scan is made. (The default maximum fuzz factor is 2.) If
51 patch cannot find a place to install that hunk of the patch, it puts
52 the hunk out to a reject file, which normally is the name of the output
53 file plus a .rej suffix, or # if .rej would generate a file name that
54 is too long (if even appending the single character # makes the file
55 name too long, then # replaces the file name's last character). (The
56 rejected hunk comes out in ordinary context diff form regardless of the
57 input patch's form. If the input was a normal diff, many of the con‐
58 texts are simply null.) The line numbers on the hunks in the reject
59 file may be different than in the patch file: they reflect the approxi‐
60 mate location patch thinks the failed hunks belong in the new file
61 rather than the old one.
62 As each hunk is completed, you are told if the hunk failed, and if so
64 which line (in the new file) patch thought the hunk should go on. If
65 the hunk is installed at a different line from the line number speci‐
66 fied in the diff you are told the offset. A single large offset may
67 indicate that a hunk was installed in the wrong place. You are also
68 told if a fuzz factor was used to make the match, in which case you
69 should also be slightly suspicious. If the --verbose option is given,
70 you are also told about hunks that match exactly.
71 If no original file origfile is specified on the command line, patch
73 tries to figure out from the leading garbage what the name of the file
74 to edit is, using the following rules.
75 First, patch takes an ordered list of candidate file names as follows:
77 · If the header is that of a context diff, patch takes the old and new
79 file names in the header. A name is ignored if it does not have
80 enough slashes to satisfy the -pnum or --strip=num option. The name
81 /dev/null is also ignored.
82 · If there is an Index: line in the leading garbage and if either the
84 old and new names are both absent or if patch is conforming to
85 POSIX, patch takes the name in the Index: line.
86 · For the purpose of the following rules, the candidate file names are
88 considered to be in the order (old, new, index), regardless of the
89 order that they appear in the header.
90 Then patch selects a file name from the candidate list as follows:
92 · If some of the named files exist, patch selects the first name if
94 conforming to POSIX, and the best name otherwise.
95 · If patch is not ignoring RCS, ClearCase, and SCCS (see the -g num or
97 --get=num option), and no named files exist but an RCS, ClearCase,
98 or SCCS master is found, patch selects the first named file with an
99 RCS, ClearCase, or SCCS master.
100 · If no named files exist, no RCS, ClearCase, or SCCS master was
102 found, some names are given, patch is not conforming to POSIX, and
103 the patch appears to create a file, patch selects the best name
104 requiring the creation of the fewest directories.
105 · If no file name results from the above heuristics, you are asked for
107 the name of the file to patch, and patch selects that name.
108 To determine the best of a nonempty list of file names, patch first
110 takes all the names with the fewest path name components; of those, it
111 then takes all the names with the shortest basename; of those, it then
112 takes all the shortest names; finally, it takes the first remaining
113 name.
114 Additionally, if the leading garbage contains a Prereq: line, patch
116 takes the first word from the prerequisites line (normally a version
117 number) and checks the original file to see if that word can be found.
118 If not, patch asks for confirmation before proceeding.
119 The upshot of all this is that you should be able to say, while in a
121 news interface, something like the following:
122 | patch -d /usr/src/local/blurfl
124 and patch a file in the blurfl directory directly from the article con‐
126 taining the patch.
127 If the patch file contains more than one patch, patch tries to apply
129 each of them as if they came from separate patch files. This means,
130 among other things, that it is assumed that the name of the file to
131 patch must be determined for each diff listing, and that the garbage
132 before each diff listing contains interesting things such as file names
133 and revision level, as mentioned previously.
134
136 -b or --backup
137 Make backup files. That is, when patching a file, rename or copy
138 the original instead of removing it. When backing up a file that
139 does not exist, an empty, unreadable backup file is created as a
140 placeholder to represent the nonexistent file. See the -V or --ver‐
141 sion-control option for details about how backup file names are
142 determined.
143 --backup-if-mismatch
145 Back up a file if the patch does not match the file exactly and if
146 backups are not otherwise requested. This is the default unless
147 patch is conforming to POSIX.
148 --no-backup-if-mismatch
150 Do not back up a file if the patch does not match the file exactly
151 and if backups are not otherwise requested. This is the default if
152 patch is conforming to POSIX.
153 -B pref or --prefix=pref
155 Prefix pref to a file name when generating its simple backup file
156 name. For example, with -B /junk/ the simple backup file name for
157 src/patch/util.c is /junk/src/patch/util.c.
158 --binary
160 Read and write all files in binary mode, except for standard output
161 and /dev/tty. This option has no effect on POSIX-conforming sys‐
162 tems. On systems like DOS where this option makes a difference, the
163 patch should be generated by diff -a --binary.
164 -c or --context
166 Interpret the patch file as a ordinary context diff.
167 -d dir or --directory=dir
169 Change to the directory dir immediately, before doing anything else.
170 -D define or --ifdef=define
172 Use the #ifdef ... #endif construct to mark changes, with define as
173 the differentiating symbol.
174 --dry-run
176 Print the results of applying the patches without actually changing
177 any files.
178 -e or --ed
180 Interpret the patch file as an ed script.
181 -E or --remove-empty-files
183 Remove output files that are empty after the patches have been
184 applied. Normally this option is unnecessary, since patch can exam‐
185 ine the time stamps on the header to determine whether a file should
186 exist after patching. However, if the input is not a context diff
187 or if patch is conforming to POSIX, patch does not remove empty
188 patched files unless this option is given. When patch removes a
189 file, it also attempts to remove any empty ancestor directories.
190 -f or --force
192 Assume that the user knows exactly what he or she is doing, and do
193 not ask any questions. Skip patches whose headers do not say which
194 file is to be patched; patch files even though they have the wrong
195 version for the Prereq: line in the patch; and assume that patches
196 are not reversed even if they look like they are. This option does
197 not suppress commentary; use -s for that.
198 -F num or --fuzz=num
200 Set the maximum fuzz factor. This option only applies to diffs that
201 have context, and causes patch to ignore up to that many lines in
202 looking for places to install a hunk. Note that a larger fuzz fac‐
203 tor increases the odds of a faulty patch. The default fuzz factor
204 is 2, and it may not be set to more than the number of lines of con‐
205 text in the context diff, ordinarily 3.
206 -g num or --get=num
208 This option controls patch's actions when a file is under RCS or
209 SCCS control, and does not exist or is read-only and matches the
210 default version, or when a file is under ClearCase control and does
211 not exist. If num is positive, patch gets (or checks out) the file
212 from the revision control system; if zero, patch ignores RCS,
213 ClearCase, and SCCS and does not get the file; and if negative,
214 patch asks the user whether to get the file. The default value of
215 this option is given by the value of the PATCH_GET environment vari‐
216 able if it is set; if not, the default value is zero if patch is
217 conforming to POSIX, negative otherwise.
218 --help
220 Print a summary of options and exit.
221 -i patchfile or --input=patchfile
223 Read the patch from patchfile. If patchfile is -, read from stan‐
224 dard input, the default.
225 -l or --ignore-whitespace
227 Match patterns loosely, in case tabs or spaces have been munged in
228 your files. Any sequence of one or more blanks in the patch file
229 matches any sequence in the original file, and sequences of blanks
230 at the ends of lines are ignored. Normal characters must still
231 match exactly. Each line of the context must still match a line in
232 the original file.
233 -n or --normal
235 Interpret the patch file as a normal diff.
236 -N or --forward
238 Ignore patches that seem to be reversed or already applied. See
239 also -R.
240 -o outfile or --output=outfile
242 Send output to outfile instead of patching files in place.
243 -pnum or --strip=num
245 Strip the smallest prefix containing num leading slashes from each
246 file name found in the patch file. A sequence of one or more adja‐
247 cent slashes is counted as a single slash. This controls how file
248 names found in the patch file are treated, in case you keep your
249 files in a different directory than the person who sent out the
250 patch. For example, supposing the file name in the patch file was
251 /u/howard/src/blurfl/blurfl.c
253 setting -p0 gives the entire file name unmodified, -p1 gives
255 u/howard/src/blurfl/blurfl.c
257 without the leading slash, -p4 gives
259 blurfl/blurfl.c
261 and not specifying -p at all just gives you blurfl.c. Whatever you
263 end up with is looked for either in the current directory, or the
264 directory specified by the -d option.
265 --posix
267 Conform more strictly to the POSIX standard, as follows.
268 · Take the first existing file from the list (old, new, index) when
270 intuiting file names from diff headers.
271 · Do not remove files that are empty after patching.
273 · Do not ask whether to get files from RCS, ClearCase, or SCCS.
275 · Require that all options precede the files in the command line.
277 · Do not backup files when there is a mismatch.
279 --quoting-style=word
281 Use style word to quote output names. The word should be one of the
282 following:
283 literal
285 Output names as-is.
286 shell Quote names for the shell if they contain shell metacharac‐
288 ters or would cause ambiguous output.
289 shell-always
291 Quote names for the shell, even if they would normally not
292 require quoting.
293 c Quote names as for a C language string.
295 escape Quote as with c except omit the surrounding double-quote
297 characters.
298 You can specify the default value of the --quoting-style option with
300 the environment variable QUOTING_STYLE. If that environment vari‐
301 able is not set, the default value is shell.
302 -r rejectfile or --reject-file=rejectfile
304 Put rejects into rejectfile instead of the default .rej file.
305 -R or --reverse
307 Assume that this patch was created with the old and new files
308 swapped. (Yes, I'm afraid that does happen occasionally, human
309 nature being what it is.) patch attempts to swap each hunk around
310 before applying it. Rejects come out in the swapped format. The -R
311 option does not work with ed diff scripts because there is too lit‐
312 tle information to reconstruct the reverse operation.
313 If the first hunk of a patch fails, patch reverses the hunk to see
315 if it can be applied that way. If it can, you are asked if you want
316 to have the -R option set. If it can't, the patch continues to be
317 applied normally. (Note: this method cannot detect a reversed patch
318 if it is a normal diff and if the first command is an append (i.e.
319 it should have been a delete) since appends always succeed, due to
320 the fact that a null context matches anywhere. Luckily, most
321 patches add or change lines rather than delete them, so most
322 reversed normal diffs begin with a delete, which fails, triggering
323 the heuristic.)
324 -s or --silent or --quiet
326 Work silently, unless an error occurs.
327 -t or --batch
329 Suppress questions like -f, but make some different assumptions:
330 skip patches whose headers do not contain file names (the same as
331 -f); skip patches for which the file has the wrong version for the
332 Prereq: line in the patch; and assume that patches are reversed if
333 they look like they are.
334 -T or --set-time
336 Set the modification and access times of patched files from time
337 stamps given in context diff headers, assuming that the context diff
338 headers use local time. This option is not recommended, because
339 patches using local time cannot easily be used by people in other
340 time zones, and because local time stamps are ambiguous when local
341 clocks move backwards during daylight-saving time adjustments.
342 Instead of using this option, generate patches with UTC and use the
343 -Z or --set-utc option instead.
344 -u or --unified
346 Interpret the patch file as a unified context diff.
347 -v or --version
349 Print out patch's revision header and patch level, and exit.
350 -V method or --version-control=method
352 Use method to determine backup file names. The method can also be
353 given by the PATCH_VERSION_CONTROL (or, if that's not set, the VER‐
354 SION_CONTROL) environment variable, which is overridden by this
355 option. The method does not affect whether backup files are made;
356 it affects only the names of any backup files that are made.
357 The value of method is like the GNU Emacs `version-control' vari‐
359 able; patch also recognizes synonyms that are more descriptive. The
360 valid values for method are (unique abbreviations are accepted):
361 existing or nil
363 Make numbered backups of files that already have them, otherwise
364 simple backups. This is the default.
365 numbered or t
367 Make numbered backups. The numbered backup file name for F is
368 F.~N~ where N is the version number.
369 simple or never
371 Make simple backups. The -B or --prefix, -Y or --basename-pre‐
372 fix, and -z or --suffix options specify the simple backup file
373 name. If none of these options are given, then a simple backup
374 suffix is used; it is the value of the SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX envi‐
375 ronment variable if set, and is .orig otherwise.
376 With numbered or simple backups, if the backup file name is too
378 long, the backup suffix ~ is used instead; if even appending ~ would
379 make the name too long, then ~ replaces the last character of the
380 file name.
381 --verbose
383 Output extra information about the work being done.
384 -x num or --debug=num
386 Set internal debugging flags of interest only to patch patchers.
387 -Y pref or --basename-prefix=pref
389 Prefix pref to the basename of a file name when generating its sim‐
390 ple backup file name. For example, with -Y .del/ the simple backup
391 file name for src/patch/util.c is src/patch/.del/util.c.
392 -z suffix or --suffix=suffix
394 Use suffix as the simple backup suffix. For example, with -z - the
395 simple backup file name for src/patch/util.c is src/patch/util.c-.
396 The backup suffix may also be specified by the SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX
397 environment variable, which is overridden by this option.
398 -Z or --set-utc
400 Set the modification and access times of patched files from time
401 stamps given in context diff headers, assuming that the context diff
402 headers use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, often known as GMT).
403 Also see the -T or --set-time option.
404 The -Z or --set-utc and -T or --set-time options normally refrain
406 from setting a file's time if the file's original time does not
407 match the time given in the patch header, or if its contents do not
408 match the patch exactly. However, if the -f or --force option is
409 given, the file time is set regardless.
410 Due to the limitations of diff output format, these options cannot
412 update the times of files whose contents have not changed. Also, if
413 you use these options, you should remove (e.g. with make clean) all
414 files that depend on the patched files, so that later invocations of
415 make do not get confused by the patched files' times.
416
418 PATCH_GET
419 This specifies whether patch gets missing or read-only files from
420 RCS, ClearCase, or SCCS by default; see the -g or --get option.
421 POSIXLY_CORRECT
423 If set, patch conforms more strictly to the POSIX standard by
424 default: see the --posix option.
425 QUOTING_STYLE
427 Default value of the --quoting-style option.
428 SIMPLE_BACKUP_SUFFIX
430 Extension to use for simple backup file names instead of .orig.
431 TMPDIR, TMP, TEMP
433 Directory to put temporary files in; patch uses the first environ‐
434 ment variable in this list that is set. If none are set, the
435 default is system-dependent; it is normally /tmp on Unix hosts.
436 VERSION_CONTROL or PATCH_VERSION_CONTROL
438 Selects version control style; see the -v or --version-control
439 option.
440
442 $TMPDIR/p∗
443 temporary files
444 /dev/tty
446 controlling terminal; used to get answers to questions asked of the
447 user
448
450 diff(1), ed(1)
451 Marshall T. Rose and Einar A. Stefferud, Proposed Standard for Message
453 Encapsulation, Internet RFC 934 <URL:ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-
454 notes/rfc934.txt> (1985-01).
455
457 There are several things you should bear in mind if you are going to be
458 sending out patches.
459 Create your patch systematically. A good method is the command
461 diff -Naur old new where old and new identify the old and new directo‐
462 ries. The names old and new should not contain any slashes. The diff
463 command's headers should have dates and times in Universal Time using
464 traditional Unix format, so that patch recipients can use the -Z or
465 --set-utc option. Here is an example command, using Bourne shell syn‐
466 tax:
467 LC_ALL=C TZ=UTC0 diff -Naur gcc-2.7 gcc-2.8
469 Tell your recipients how to apply the patch by telling them which
471 directory to cd to, and which patch options to use. The option string
472 -Np1 is recommended. Test your procedure by pretending to be a recipi‐
473 ent and applying your patch to a copy of the original files.
474 You can save people a lot of grief by keeping a patchlevel.h file which
476 is patched to increment the patch level as the first diff in the patch
477 file you send out. If you put a Prereq: line in with the patch, it
478 won't let them apply patches out of order without some warning.
479 You can create a file by sending out a diff that compares /dev/null or
481 an empty file dated the Epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC) to the file you
482 want to create. This only works if the file you want to create doesn't
483 exist already in the target directory. Conversely, you can remove a
484 file by sending out a context diff that compares the file to be deleted
485 with an empty file dated the Epoch. The file will be removed unless
486 patch is conforming to POSIX and the -E or --remove-empty-files option
487 is not given. An easy way to generate patches that create and remove
488 files is to use GNU diff's -N or --new-file option.
489 If the recipient is supposed to use the -pN option, do not send output
491 that looks like this:
492 diff -Naur v2.0.29/prog/README prog/README
494 --- v2.0.29/prog/README Mon Mar 10 15:13:12 1997
495 +++ prog/README Mon Mar 17 14:58:22 1997
496 because the two file names have different numbers of slashes, and dif‐
498 ferent versions of patch interpret the file names differently. To
499 avoid confusion, send output that looks like this instead:
500 diff -Naur v2.0.29/prog/README v2.0.30/prog/README
502 --- v2.0.29/prog/README Mon Mar 10 15:13:12 1997
503 +++ v2.0.30/prog/README Mon Mar 17 14:58:22 1997
504 Avoid sending patches that compare backup file names like README.orig,
507 since this might confuse patch into patching a backup file instead of
508 the real file. Instead, send patches that compare the same base file
509 names in different directories, e.g. old/README and new/README.
510 Take care not to send out reversed patches, since it makes people won‐
512 der whether they already applied the patch.
513 Try not to have your patch modify derived files (e.g. the file config‐
515 ure where there is a line configure: configure.in in your makefile),
516 since the recipient should be able to regenerate the derived files any‐
517 way. If you must send diffs of derived files, generate the diffs using
518 UTC, have the recipients apply the patch with the -Z or --set-utc
519 option, and have them remove any unpatched files that depend on patched
520 files (e.g. with make clean).
521 While you may be able to get away with putting 582 diff listings into
523 one file, it may be wiser to group related patches into separate files
524 in case something goes haywire.
525
527 Diagnostics generally indicate that patch couldn't parse your patch
528 file.
529 If the --verbose option is given, the message Hmm... indicates that
531 there is unprocessed text in the patch file and that patch is attempt‐
532 ing to intuit whether there is a patch in that text and, if so, what
533 kind of patch it is.
534 patch's exit status is 0 if all hunks are applied successfully, 1 if
536 some hunks cannot be applied, and 2 if there is more serious trouble.
537 When applying a set of patches in a loop it behooves you to check this
538 exit status so you don't apply a later patch to a partially patched
539 file.
540
542 Context diffs cannot reliably represent the creation or deletion of
543 empty files, empty directories, or special files such as symbolic
544 links. Nor can they represent changes to file metadata like ownership,
545 permissions, or whether one file is a hard link to another. If changes
546 like these are also required, separate instructions (e.g. a shell
547 script) to accomplish them should accompany the patch.
548 patch cannot tell if the line numbers are off in an ed script, and can
550 detect bad line numbers in a normal diff only when it finds a change or
551 deletion. A context diff using fuzz factor 3 may have the same prob‐
552 lem. Until a suitable interactive interface is added, you should prob‐
553 ably do a context diff in these cases to see if the changes made sense.
554 Of course, compiling without errors is a pretty good indication that
555 the patch worked, but not always.
556 patch usually produces the correct results, even when it has to do a
558 lot of guessing. However, the results are guaranteed to be correct
559 only when the patch is applied to exactly the same version of the file
560 that the patch was generated from.
561
563 The POSIX standard specifies behavior that differs from patch's tradi‐
564 tional behavior. You should be aware of these differences if you must
565 interoperate with patch versions 2.1 and earlier, which do not conform
566 to POSIX.
567 · In traditional patch, the -p option's operand was optional, and a
569 bare -p was equivalent to -p0. The -p option now requires an oper‐
570 and, and -p 0 is now equivalent to -p0. For maximum compatibility,
571 use options like -p0 and -p1.
572 Also, traditional patch simply counted slashes when stripping path
574 prefixes; patch now counts pathname components. That is, a sequence
575 of one or more adjacent slashes now counts as a single slash. For
576 maximum portability, avoid sending patches containing // in file
577 names.
578 · In traditional patch, backups were enabled by default. This behav‐
580 ior is now enabled with the -b or --backup option.
581 Conversely, in POSIX patch, backups are never made, even when there
583 is a mismatch. In GNU patch, this behavior is enabled with the
584 --no-backup-if-mismatch option, or by conforming to POSIX with the
585 --posix option or by setting the POSIXLY_CORRECT environment vari‐
586 able.
587 The -b suffix option of traditional patch is equivalent to the
589 -b -z suffix options of GNU patch.
590 · Traditional patch used a complicated (and incompletely documented)
592 method to intuit the name of the file to be patched from the patch
593 header. This method did not conform to POSIX, and had a few
594 gotchas. Now patch uses a different, equally complicated (but bet‐
595 ter documented) method that is optionally POSIX-conforming; we hope
596 it has fewer gotchas. The two methods are compatible if the file
597 names in the context diff header and the Index: line are all identi‐
598 cal after prefix-stripping. Your patch is normally compatible if
599 each header's file names all contain the same number of slashes.
600 · When traditional patch asked the user a question, it sent the ques‐
602 tion to standard error and looked for an answer from the first file
603 in the following list that was a terminal: standard error, standard
604 output, /dev/tty, and standard input. Now patch sends questions to
605 standard output and gets answers from /dev/tty. Defaults for some
606 answers have been changed so that patch never goes into an infinite
607 loop when using default answers.
608 · Traditional patch exited with a status value that counted the number
610 of bad hunks, or with status 1 if there was real trouble. Now patch
611 exits with status 1 if some hunks failed, or with 2 if there was
612 real trouble.
613 · Limit yourself to the following options when sending instructions
615 meant to be executed by anyone running GNU patch, traditional patch,
616 or a patch that conforms to POSIX. Spaces are significant in the
617 following list, and operands are required.
618 -c
620 -d dir
621 -D define
622 -e
623 -l
624 -n
625 -N
626 -o outfile
627 -pnum
628 -R
629 -r rejectfile
630
632 Please report bugs via email to <bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org>.
633 patch could be smarter about partial matches, excessively deviant off‐
635 sets and swapped code, but that would take an extra pass.
636 If code has been duplicated (for instance with #ifdef OLDCODE ... #else
638 ... #endif), patch is incapable of patching both versions, and, if it
639 works at all, will likely patch the wrong one, and tell you that it
640 succeeded to boot.
641 If you apply a patch you've already applied, patch thinks it is a
643 reversed patch, and offers to un-apply the patch. This could be con‐
644 strued as a feature.
645
647 Copyright 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 Larry Wall.
648 Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
649 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
650 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
652 manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
653 preserved on all copies.
654 Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
656 manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
657 entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a per‐
658 mission notice identical to this one.
659 Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this man‐
661 ual into another language, under the above conditions for modified ver‐
662 sions, except that this permission notice may be included in transla‐
663 tions approved by the copyright holders instead of in the original Eng‐
664 lish.
665
667 Larry Wall wrote the original version of patch. Paul Eggert removed
668 patch's arbitrary limits; added support for binary files, setting file
669 times, and deleting files; and made it conform better to POSIX. Other
670 contributors include Wayne Davison, who added unidiff support, and
671 David MacKenzie, who added configuration and backup support.
672GNU 1998/03/21 PATCH(1)