bk patch(7.3ce-rc1) bk patch(7.3ce-rc1)
NAME
bk patch - apply a diff file to an original
SYNOPSIS
bk patch [<options>] [<originalfile> [<patchfile>]]
but usually just
bk patch -p<num> < <patchfile>
DESCRIPTION
bk patch takes a patch file <patchfile> containing a difference listing
produced by bk diff and applies those differences to one or more origi-
nal 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, bk patch 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 unified) and normal diffs are applied by bk patch
itself, while ed(1) diffs are simply fed to ed via a pipe.
bk 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 bk 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
prefixing "-" to lines starting with "-" as specified by Internet RFC
934, this is taken into account.
With context diffs, and to a lesser extent with normal diffs, bk patch
can detect when the line numbers mentioned in the patch are incorrect,
and attempts to find the correct place to apply each hunk of the patch.
As a first guess, it takes the line number mentioned for the hunk, plus
or minus any offset used in applying the previous hunk. If that is not
the correct place, bk patch scans both forwards and backwards for a set
of lines matching the context given in the hunk. First bk 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 bk
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 form of the input patch. 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 that bk 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) bk patch thought the hunk should go on.
If the hunk is installed at a different line from the line number spec-
ified in the diff you are told the offset. A single large offset might
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, bk
patch tries to figure out from the leading garbage what the name of the
file to edit is, using the following rules.
First, bk patch takes an ordered list of candidate file names as fol-
lows:
=> If the header is that of a context diff, bk 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 or 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 bk patch is conforming to
POSIX, bk patch takes the name in the Index: line.
=> For the purpose of the following rules, the candidate file names
are considered to be in the order (old, new, index), regardless of
the order that they appear in the header.
Then bk patch selects a file name from the candidate list as follows:
=> If some of the named files exist, bk patch selects the first name
if conforming to POSIX, and the best name otherwise.
=> If bk patch is not ignoring RCS, ClearCase, and SCCS (see the or
option), and no named files exist but an RCS, ClearCase, or SCCS
master is found, bk patch selects the first named file with an RCS,
ClearCase, or SCCS master.
=> If no named files exist, no RCS, ClearCase, or SCCS master was
found, some names are given, bk patch is not conforming to POSIX,
and the patch appears to create a file, bk patch selects the best
name requiring the creation of the fewest directories.
=> If no file name results from the above heuristics, you are asked
for the name of the file to patch, and bk patch selects that name.
To determine the best of a nonempty list of file names, bk 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, bk 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, bk patch asks for confirmation before proceeding.
The upshot of all this is that you should be able to say, while in a
news interface, something like the following:
| bk patch -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, bk patch tries to apply
each of them as if they came from separate patch files. This means,
among other things, that it is assumed that the name of the file to
patch must be determined for each diff listing, and that the garbage
before each diff listing contains interesting things such as file names
and revision level, as mentioned previously.
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
"--version-control" option for details about how backup file names
are determined.
--backup-if-mismatch
Back up a file if the patch does not match the file exactly and if
backups are not otherwise requested. This is the default unless bk
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
bk patch 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" ... 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(1) script.
-E or --remove-empty-files
Remove output files that are empty after the patches have been
applied. Normally this option is unnecessary, since bk 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 con-
text diff or if bk patch is conforming to POSIX, bk patch does not
remove empty patched files unless this option is given. When bk
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 bk 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 the actions of bk patch 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 control and
does not exist. If <num> is positive, bk patch gets (or checks
out) the file from the revision control system; if zero, bk patch
ignores RCS, ClearCase, and SCCS and does not get the file; and if
negative, bk 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 bk 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.
-pnum or --strip=num
Strip the smallest prefix containing <num> leading slashes from
each file name found in the patch file. A sequence of one or more
adjacent slashes is counted as a single slash. This controls how
file names found in the patch file are treated, in case you keep
your files in a different directory than the person who sent out
the patch. For example, supposing the file name in the patch file
was
/u/howard/src/blurfl/blurfl.c
setting "-p0" gives the entire file name unmodified, "-p1" gives
u/howard/src/blurfl/blurfl.c
without the leading slash, "-p4" gives
blurfl/blurfl.c
and not specifying "-p" at all just gives you blurfl.c. Whatever
you end up with is looked for either in the current directory, or
the directory specified by the "-d" option.
--posix
Conform more strictly to the POSIX standard, as follows:
=> Take the first existing file from the list (old, new, index)
when intuiting file names from diff headers.
=> Do not remove files that are empty after patching.
=> Do not ask whether to get files from RCS, ClearCase, or SCCS.
=> Require that all options precede the files in the command line.
=> Do not backup files when there is a mismatch.
--quoting-style=<word>
Use style <word> to quote output names. The <word> should be one
of the following:
literal Output names as-is.
shell Quote names for the shell if they contain shell
metacharacters or would cause ambiguous output.
shell-always Quote names for the shell, even if they would normally
not require quoting.
c Quote names as for a C language string.
escape Quote as with "c" except omit the surrounding double-
quote characters.
You can specify the default value of the "--quoting-style" option
with the environment variable QUOTING_STYLE. If that environment
variable is not set, the default value is shell.
-r rejectfile or --reject-file=rejectfile
Put rejects into <rejectfile> instead of the default ".rej" file.
-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.) bk 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(1) diff scripts because there
is too little information to reconstruct the reverse operation.
If the first hunk of a patch fails, bk 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 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 adjust-
ments. 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 the revision header and patch level of bk patch and exit.
-V method or --version-control=method
Use <method> to determine backup file names. The method can also
be given by the PATCH_VERSION_CONTROL (or, if that's not set, the
VERSION_CONTROL) environment variable, which is overridden by this
option. The method does not affect whether backup files are made;
it affects only the names of any backup files that are made.
The value of <method> is like the GNU Emacs `version-control' vari-
able; bk 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, other-
wise 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 "--base-
name-prefix", and "-z" or "--suffix" options specify the simple
backup file name. If none of these options are given, then a
simple backup suffix is used; it is the value of the 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 generating 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
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 bk diff output format, these options can-
not 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 bk patch gets missing or read-only files
from RCS, ClearCase, or SCCS by default; see the "-g" or "--get"
option.
POSIXLY_CORRECT
If set, bk 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; bk patch uses the first envi-
ronment 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
NOTES
bk patch uses the GNU implementation of patch(1).
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 where
<old> and <new> identify the old and new directories. The names <old>
and <new> should not contain any slashes. The bk diff command's head-
ers 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 bk patch options to use. The option
string "-Np1" is recommended. Test your procedure by pretending to be
a recipient and applying your patch to a copy of the original files.
You can save people a lot of grief by keeping a patchlevel.h file which
is patched to increment the patch level as the first diff in the patch
file you send out. If you put a Prereq: line in with the patch, it
won't let them apply patches out of order without some warning.
You can create a file by sending out a diff that compares /dev/null or
an empty file dated the Epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC) to the file you
want to create. This only works if the file you want to create doesn't
exist already in the target directory. Conversely, you can remove a
file by sending out a context diff that compares the file to be deleted
with an empty file dated the Epoch. The file will be removed unless bk
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 the "-N" option to bk diff or "--new-file"
option.
If the recipient is supposed to use the 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 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 bk 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 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 bk 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 bk patch is
attempting to intuit whether there is a patch in that text and, if so,
what kind of patch it is.
EXIT STATUS
bk patch returns exit status
0 if all hunks were applied successfully
1 if some hunks could not be applied
2 if a serious error occurred
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.
bk patch cannot tell if the line numbers are off in an ed(1) 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 indi-
cation that the patch worked, but not always.
bk 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 traditional
patch behavior. You should be aware of these differences if you must
interoperate with patch versions 2.1 and earlier, which do not conform
to POSIX.
In traditional
patch, the "-p" option's operand was optional, and a bare "-p" was
equivalent to "-p0." The "-p" option now requires an operand, and
"-p 0" is now equivalent to "-p0". For maximum compatibility, use
options like "-p0" and "-p1".
Also, traditional patch simply counted slashes when stripping path
prefixes; bk patch counts pathname components. That is, a sequence
of one or more adjacent slashes now counts as a single slash. For
maximum portability, avoid sending patches containing "//" in file
names.
In traditional
patch, backups were enabled by default. This behavior is now
enabled with the "-b" or "--backup" option.
Conversely, in POSIX patch, backups are never made, even when there
is a mismatch. In bk 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 option of traditional patch is equivalent to the options of bk
patch.
Traditional
patch used a complicated (and incompletely documented) method to
intuit the name of the file to be patched from the patch header.
This method did not conform to POSIX, and had a few gotchas. bk
patch uses a different, equally complicated (but better documented)
method that is optionally POSIX-conforming; we hope it has fewer
gotchas. The two methods are compatible if the file names in the
context diff header and the Index: line are all identical after
prefix-stripping. Your patch is normally compatible if each
header's file names all contain the same number of slashes.
When traditional
patch asked the user a question, it sent the question to standard
error and looked for an answer from the first file in the following
list that was a terminal: standard error, standard output,
/dev/tty, and standard input. Now bk patch sends questions to
standard output and gets answers from /dev/tty. Defaults for some
answers have been changed so that bk patch never goes into an infi-
nite 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 bk patch
exits with status 1 if some hunks failed, or with 2 if there was
real trouble.
Limit yourself to the following options when sending instructions
meant to be executed by anyone running bk patch, traditional patch,
or a patch that conforms to POSIX. Spaces are significant in the
following list, and operands are required.
-c
-e
-l
-n
-N
-R
BUGS
Please report bugs via email to bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org.
bk patch could be smarter about partial matches, excessively deviant
offsets and swapped code, but that would take an extra pass.
If code has been duplicated (for instance with #ifdef OLDCODE ... #else
... #endif), bk patch is incapable of patching both versions, and, if
it works at all, will likely patch the wrong one, and tell you that it
succeeded to boot.
If you apply a patch you've already applied, bk patch thinks it is a
reversed patch, and offers to un-apply the patch. This could be con-
strued as a feature.
COPYING
Copyright 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 Larry Wall.
Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
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.
SEE ALSO
ed(1),
Marshall T. Rose and Einar A. Stefferud, Proposed Standard for Message
Encapsulation, Internet RFC 934 <URL:ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-
bk diff
bk credits
CATEGORY
Utility
GNU 1998/03/21 bk patch(7.3ce-rc1)
Utility