Having successfully handed over my copyright claims for Patch to the FSF, I decided to start by exploring some minor issues that have been reported by downstream projects, like Debian and FreeBSD. Little housekeeping tasks where I might be helpful and learn more about the code & documentation.
Attached are two minor fixes/updates to the manual page that have been suggested. The latter patch, (patch-man-tidy2.txt) when applied will close Debian bug #717092. - Jesse
diff --git a/patch.man b/patch.man index e919eae..03b7703 100644 --- a/patch.man +++ b/patch.man @@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ Thus you could feed an article or message containing a diff listing to .BR patch , and it should work. -If the entire diff is indented by a consistent amount, if lines end in \s-1CRLF\s0, +If the entire diff is indented by a consistent amount, +if lines end in \s-1CRLF\s0, or if a diff is encapsulated one or more times by prepending "\fB\- \fP" to lines starting with "\fB\-\fP" as specified by Internet RFC 934, this is taken into account. @@ -304,10 +305,11 @@ is Write all files in binary mode, except for standard output and .BR /dev/tty . When reading, disable the heuristic for transforming CRLF line endings into LF -line endings. This option is needed on \s-1POSIX\s0 systems when applying patches +line endings. +This option is needed on \s-1POSIX\s0 systems when applying patches generated on non-\s-1POSIX\s0 systems to non-\s-1POSIX\s0 files. (On \s-1POSIX\s0 systems, file reads and writes never transform line -endings. On Windows, reads and writes do transform line endings by default, +endings. On Windows, reads and writes do transform line endings by default, and patches should be generated by .B "diff\ \*=binary" when line endings are significant.) @@ -323,12 +325,12 @@ anything else. .TP \fB\-D\fP \fIdefine\fP or \fB\*=ifdef=\fP\fIdefine\fP Use the -.BR #ifdef " .\|.\|. " #endif +.BR #ifdef " .\|.\|.\& " #endif construct to mark changes, with .I define as the differentiating symbol. .TP -.B "\*=dry\-run" +.B \*=dry\-run Print the results of applying the patches without actually changing any files. .TP \fB\-e\fP or \fB\*=ed\fP @@ -393,7 +395,7 @@ The default value of this option is given by the value of the .B PATCH_GET environment variable if it is set; if not, the default value is zero. .TP -.B "\*=help" +.B \*=help Print a summary of options and exit. .TP \fB\-i\fP \fIpatchfile\fP or \fB\*=input=\fP\fIpatchfile\fP @@ -437,7 +439,7 @@ lines from the patch; in the merge format, this section is missing. The merge format is the default. This option implies \fB\*=forward\fP and does not take the -\fB--fuzz\fR=\fInum\fP option into account. +\fB\*=fuzz\fR=\fInum\fP option into account. .TP \fB\-n\fP or \fB\*=normal\fP Interpret the patch file as a normal diff. @@ -468,28 +470,34 @@ 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 .Sp +.LP .RS \fB/u/howard/src/blurfl/blurfl.c\fP .RE .Sp +.IP "" 3 setting .B \-p0 gives the entire file name unmodified, .B \-p1 gives .Sp +.LP .RS \fBu/howard/src/blurfl/blurfl.c\fP .RE .Sp +.IP "" 3 without the leading slash, .B \-p4 gives .Sp +.LP .RS \fBblurfl/blurfl.c\fP .RE .Sp +.IP "" 3 and not specifying .B \-p at all just gives you \fBblurfl.c\fP. @@ -584,7 +592,7 @@ If it can, you are asked if you want to have the 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) +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 @@ -696,7 +704,7 @@ or and .B \-z or -.BR \*=suffix +.B \*=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 @@ -759,7 +767,7 @@ is .TP \fB\-Z\fP or \fB\*=set\-utc\fP Set the modification and access times of patched files from time stamps -given in context diff headers. Unless specified in the time stamps, +given in context diff headers. Unless specified in the time stamps, assume that the context diff headers use Coordinated Universal Time (\s-1UTC\s0, often known as \s-1GMT\s0). Also see the .B \-T @@ -787,7 +795,7 @@ Due to the limitations of .B 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 +(e.g., with .BR "make\ clean" ) all files that depend on the patched files, so that later invocations of .B make @@ -849,7 +857,7 @@ controlling terminal; used to get answers to questions asked of the user .BR ed (1), .BR merge (1). .Sp -Marshall T. Rose and Einar A. Stefferud, +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). .SH "NOTES FOR PATCH SENDERS" @@ -890,7 +898,7 @@ by telling them which directory to to, and which .B patch options to use. The option string -.B "\-Np1" +.B \-Np1 is recommended. Test your procedure by pretending to be a recipient and applying your patch to a copy of the original files. @@ -975,7 +983,7 @@ Take care not to send out reversed patches, since it makes people wonder whether they already applied the patch. .PP Try not to have your patch modify derived files -(e.g. the file +(e.g., the file .B configure where there is a line .B "configure: configure.in" @@ -988,7 +996,7 @@ have the recipients apply the patch with the or .B \*=set\-utc option, and have them remove any unpatched files that depend on patched files -(e.g. with +(e.g., with .BR "make\ clean" ). .PP While you may be able to get away with putting 582 diff listings into @@ -1022,7 +1030,7 @@ 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. +(e.g., a shell script) to accomplish them should accompany the patch. .PP .B patch cannot tell if the line numbers are off in an @@ -1057,7 +1065,7 @@ the option's operand was optional, and a bare .B \-p was equivalent to -.BR \-p0. +.BR \-p0 . The .B \-p option now requires an operand, and @@ -1190,7 +1198,7 @@ Please report bugs via email to .BR <bug-patch@gnu.org> . .PP If code has been duplicated (for instance with -\fB#ifdef OLDCODE\fP .\|.\|. \fB#else .\|.\|. #endif\fP), +\fB#ifdef OLDCODE\fP \&.\|.\|.\& \fB#else \&.\|.\|.\& #endif\fP), .B 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.
diff --git a/patch.man b/patch.man index e919eae..5479d75 100644 --- a/patch.man +++ b/patch.man @@ -224,6 +224,11 @@ 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. .PP +Please note that patches that specify dangerous filenames, such as +absolute pathnames (i.e. /tmp/dir/filename), will be skipped over. +This prevents the program from damaging files outside of the +current directory tree. +.PP Additionally, if the leading garbage contains a .B Prereq:\& line,
