[bug-patch] GNU patch version 2.7.1 released

[Andreas Grünbacher]

A number of annoying problems and bugs were found in the patch 2.7 release,
which calls for a bugfix release.  The changes since version 2.7 include:

* Two critical bug fixes in the "diff --git" format support.
* Clarify the message printed when a patch is expected to empty out and delete
  a file, but the file does not become empty.
* Various improvements to messages when applying a patch to a file of different
  type (regular file vs. symlink), when there are line ending differences (LF
  vs. CRLF), and when in --dry-run mode.
* When in the root directory, allow file names that are absolute or that
  contain a component of "..".
* New --follow-symlinks option to allow to treat symlinks as files: this was
  patch's behavior before version 2.7.
* Ignore when extended attributes cannot be preserved because they are
  unsupported or because permission to set them is denied.
* License clarifications in NEWS and README.
* Portability bug fixes.

Release tarballs are available at:

  ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/patch/

Please report bugs or suggestions on the <address@hidden> mailing list, or
in the project's bug tracker on Savannah:

  http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/patch

Thanks,
Andreas