This version of patch contains modifications made by the Free Software
Foundation, summarized in the file ChangeLog. Primarily they are to
support the unified context diff format that GNU diff can produce, but
they also include some fixes for other bugs. The FSF is distributing
this version of patch itself because, as of this writing, Larry has
not released a new version of patch since mid-1988. I have heard that
he has been too busy working on other things, like Perl.

The FSF changes to patch are not covered by the GNU General Public
License; they are distributed on the same terms as the rest of patch
(actually, on somewhat less restrictive terms).

Please send bug reports for this version of patch to
[email protected] as well as to Larry Wall ([email protected]).
[email protected] (David MacKenzie)

Patch Kit, Version 2.0

Copyright (c) 1988, Larry Wall

You may copy the patch kit in whole or in part as long as you don't try to
make money off it, or pretend that you wrote it.
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Please read all the directions below before you proceed any further, and
then follow them carefully. Failure to do so may void your warranty. 🙂

After you have unpacked your kit, you should have all the files listed
in MANIFEST.

Installation

1) Run Configure. This will figure out various things about your system.
Some things Configure will figure out for itself, other things it will
ask you about. It will then proceed to make config.h, config.sh, and
Makefile.

You might possibly have to trim # comments from the front of Configure
if your sh doesn't handle them, but all other # comments will be taken
care of.

If you don't have sh, you'll have to rip the prototype of config.h out
of Configure and generate the defines by hand.

2) Glance through config.h to make sure system dependencies are correct.
Most of them should have been taken care of by running the Configure script.

If you have any additional changes to make to the C definitions, they
can be done in the Makefile, or in config.h. Bear in mind that they may
get undone next time you run Configure.

3) make

This will attempt to make patch in the current directory.

4) make install

This will put patch into a public directory (normally /usr/local/bin).
It will also try to put the man pages in a reasonable place. It will not
nroff the man page, however.

5) Read the manual entry before running patch.

6) IMPORTANT! Help save the world! Communicate any problems and
suggested patches to me, [email protected] (Larry Wall),
so we can keep the world in sync. If you have a problem, there's
someone else out there who either has had or will have the same problem.

If possible, send in patches such that the patch program will apply them.
Context diffs are the best, then normal diffs. Don't send ed scripts--
I've probably changed my copy since the version you have.

Watch for patch patches in net.sources.bugs. Patches will generally be
in a form usable by the patch program. If you are just now bringing up
patch and aren't sure how many patches there are, write to me and I'll
send any you don't have. Your current patch level is shown in patchlevel.h.


NEW FEATURES IN THIS RELEASE

(Correct) support for 4.3bsd-style context diffs.
Files can be created from scratch.
You can specify a fuzz-factor for context matching.
You can force patch to ask no questions.
You can specify how much of the leading pathname to strip off filenames.
Uses a Configure script for greater portability.
You are now asked if you want to apply a reversed patch.
No limit (apart from memory) on the size of hunks.