Re: [bug-patch] Arbitrary hunk sizes for patch

[Andreas Gruenbacher]

On Thursday, 23 April 2009 1:05:38 Alfie wrote:
> Hi list,
>
> When modifying patch files, i'm getting a bit sick of counting lines just
> so I can modify hunk sizes to correctly apply a patch.
>
> Then I noticed at the bottom of the man page for "patch":
>
>   "Paul Eggert removed patch’s arbitrary limits"
>
> Has that statement got anything to do with arbitrary hunk sizes?

Patch uses the line numbers to detect where hunks end and rejects some 
malformed (garbled?) patches that way; I would not call that arbitrary.

> If so, could this be reinstated but only turned on with a flag e.g:
>
>   "patch --ignore-size"

I would suggest to use recountdiff; I think there are also editor modes that 
take care of line numbers for you.

Thanks,
Andreas