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PATCH(1) PATCH(1)
NAME
patch - apply a diff file to an original
SYNOPSIS
patch [options] [originalfile [patchfile]]
but usually just
patch -pnum <patchfile
DESCRIPTION
patch takes a patch file patchfile containing a differ-
ence listing produced by the diff program and applies
those differences to one or more original files, produc-
ing 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, 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, 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 consid-
ered 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 pre-
vious 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.) 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 ordinary context diff
form regardless of the input patch's form. 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 follow-
ing rules.
First, patch takes an ordered list of candidate file
names as follows:
o 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.
o 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.
o 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:
o If some of the named files exist, patch selects the
first name if conforming to POSIX, and the best name
otherwise.
o 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 mas-
ter.
o 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.
o 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 fol-
lowing:
| 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 sepa-
rate 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 pre-
viously.
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 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 conform-
ing 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 systems. 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 unneces-
sary, 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 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, and it may not be set to more than
the number of lines of context in the context diff,
ordinarily 3.
-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 if patch 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 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.
-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 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 fol-
lows.
o Take the first existing file from the list (old,
new, index) when intuiting file names from diff
headers.
o Do not remove files that are empty after patching.
o Do not ask whether to get files from RCS,
ClearCase, Perforce, or SCCS.
o Require that all options precede the files in the
command line.
o 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 --quot-
ing-style option with the environment variable QUOT-
ING_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.
-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.)
-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 con-
tain 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 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) environ-
ment 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 suf-
fix is used; it is the value of the SIM-
PLE_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
Prefix pref to the basename of a file name when gen-
erating its simple 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 SIM-
PLE_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 Coordi-
nated 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 nor-
mally 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 con-
tents 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 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 --ver-
sion-control option.
FILES
$TMPDIR/p*
temporary files
/dev/tty
controlling terminal; used to get answers to ques-
tions asked of the user
SEE ALSO
diff(1), ed(1)
Marshall T. Rose and Einar A. Stefferud, Proposed Stan-
dard 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 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 patch-
level.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 warn-
ing.
You can create a file by sending out a diff that com-
pares /dev/null or an empty file dated the Epoch
(1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC) to the file you want to cre-
ate. This only works if the file you want to create
doesn't exist already in the target directory. Con-
versely, 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: con-
figure.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 hay-
wire.
DIAGNOSTICS
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 suc-
cessfully, 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 accom-
pany 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. Until a
suitable interactive interface is added, 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.
COMPATIBILITY ISSUES
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.
o 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 adja-
cent slashes now counts as a single slash. For maxi-
mum portability, avoid sending patches containing //
in file names.
o 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 equiva-
lent to the -b -z suffix options of GNU patch.
o Traditional patch used a complicated (and incom-
pletely 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 compli-
cated (but better documented) method that is option-
ally 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 nor-
mally compatible if each header's file names all con-
tain the same number of slashes.
o 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 ques-
tions 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.
o 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.
o Limit yourself to the following options when sending
instructions meant to be executed by anyone running
GNU patch, traditional patch, or a patch that con-
forms to POSIX. Spaces are significant in the fol-
lowing 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>.
patch could be smarter about partial matches, exces-
sively deviant offsets and swapped code, but that would
take an extra pass.
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 suc-
ceeded 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.
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 verba-
tim 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 transla-
tions 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.
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 con-
tributors include Wayne Davison, who added unidiff sup-
port, and David MacKenzie, who added configuration and
backup support.
GNU 2002/05/25 PATCH(1)