On Mon, Dec 20, 2021 at 04:45:58PM +0100, Ingo Schwarze wrote: > Hi Christopher, > > Christopher Zimmermann wrote on Mon, Dec 20, 2021 at 04:01:49PM +0100: > > > base patch cannot work with diffs of binary files. It might help to say > > so in the manpage since other implementations do support this (ab)use of > > patch. OK? > > I agree you are pointing out a slight problem with the manual page, > but i dislike your patch for two reasons: > > This is not a bug, but a fundamental design decision. > The patch(1) manual talks about "lines" throughout, > and for binary files, a concept of "lines" does not even exist. > > And the basic idea of a tool ought to be described in the first > sentence of the description, not as an afterthought at the very end. > > The problem arises from the manual failing to mention that patch(1) > operates on text files. Many standard utilities operate on text files > only, the concept of a text-file is both well-known and defined by > POSIX, so there is no need to re-explain what that means in individual > pages. > > Consequently, i think something like the following would be better. > > Yours, > Ingo > > > Index: patch.1 > =================================================================== > RCS file: /cvs/src/usr.bin/patch/patch.1,v > retrieving revision 1.33 > diff -u -r1.33 patch.1 > --- patch.1 9 Nov 2021 16:13:40 -0000 1.33 > +++ patch.1 20 Dec 2021 15:42:10 -0000 > @@ -47,10 +47,12 @@ > .Pf \*(Lt Ar patchfile > .Sh DESCRIPTION > .Nm > -will take a patch file containing any of the four forms of difference > +takes the text file > +.Ar patchfile > +containing any of the four forms of difference > listing produced by the > .Xr diff 1 > -program and apply those differences to an original file, > +program and applies those differences to an original text file, > producing a patched version. > If > .Ar patchfile >
hi ingo. i'm ok with your diff but it is slightly misleading in context of reading from stdin. i suppose that is no biggie. it would be simpler to just s/patch file/text file/ maybe? if not, i'm still ok with your version. jmc
