README
1This version of `patch' has many changes made by the Free Software Foundation.
2They add support for:
3 * handling arbitrary binary data and large files
4 * the unified context diff format that GNU diff can produce
5 * making GNU Emacs-style backup files
6 * improved interaction with RCS and SCCS
7 * the GNU conventions for option parsing and configuring and compilation.
8 * better POSIX compliance
9They also fix some bugs. See the NEWS and ChangeLog files for details.
10
11Tutorial-style documentation for patch is included in the GNU
12Diffutils package; get GNU Diffutils 2.8 or later for up-to-date
13documentation for patch.
14
15For GNU and Unix build and installation instructions, see the file INSTALL.
16Use `configure --disable-largefile' to disable large file support;
17this is reportedly necessary on Red Hat GNU/Linux 6.0 to avoid a C library bug.
18For MS-DOS using DJGPP tools, see the file pc/djgpp/README.
19For other systems, copy config.hin to config.h and change
20#undef statements in it to #define as appropriate for your system,
21and copy Makefile.in to Makefile and set the variables that are
22enclosed in @ signs as appropriate for your system.
23
24Please send bug reports for this version of patch to
25<bug-patch@gnu.org>.
26
27The Free Software Foundation is distributing this version of patch
28independently because as of this writing, Larry Wall has not released a
29new version of patch since mid-1988. We have heard that he has been
30too busy working on other things, like Perl. He has graciously agreed
31to let GNU `patch' be distributed under the terms of the GNU General
32Public License.
33
34------
35
36Copyright (C) 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 Larry Wall
37
38Copyright (C) 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1999, 2002 Free
39Software Foundation, Inc.
40
41This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
42it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
43the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
44any later version.
45
46This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
47but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
48MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
49See the GNU General Public License for more details.
50
51You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
52along with this file; see the file COPYING.
53If not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
5459 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.
55