Xref: utzoo comp.unix.wizards:9107 comp.unix.questions:7411
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!gatech!ncar!oddjob!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards,comp.unix.questions
Subject: aside on patch and context diffs
Message-ID: <11822@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 5 Jun 88 21:47:19 GMT
References: <136@rubmez.UUCP> <449@happym.UUCP> <7944@alice.UUCP> <23142@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 13

In article <23142@bu-cs.BU.EDU> bzs@bu-cs.BU.EDU (Barry Shein) writes:
>... 'patch' can take a context input but that's irrelevant, it hardly
>needs nor prefers a context diff to my knowledge, it's just being
>accomodating so humans can look at the context diff if something
>botches.

There is another very good reason to use context diffs with patch,
and that is that a one-line change (e.g., fixing a comment) can break
a non-context diff too easily.  (Also, I like to scan the diffs myself
before applying them; it catches a number of bugs handily.)
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris