WG15 Defect Report Ref: 9945-2-14
Topic: patch


This is an approved interpretation of 9945-2:1993.

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Last update: 1997-05-20


								9945-2-14
	Class: Editorial defect


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	Topic:			patch
	Relevant Sections:	5.22.7.1


Defect Report:
-----------------------
 
          In Section 5.22.5.3 - Environment Variables {of patch},  the 
          standard states that the LC_TIME variable ``shall  determine 
          the locale for recognizing the format of  file  time  stamps 
          written by the diff utility in a context-diff input  file.'' 
          [Draft 12 of ISO/IEC 9945-2:1993 (July 1992), p. 619, lines 
          3541-3543] 
 
          In Section 5.22.7.1 - Patchfile Format, the standard  states 
          that ``patch shall recognize the following expressions: 
 
               *** filename timestamp   The  patches  arose  from 
               filename. 
               --- filename  timestamp   The  patches  should  be 
               applied to filename. 
 
          [Ibid., p. 620, lines 3572-3575] 
 
          What happens when patch detects lines  that  look  like  *** 
          filename and --- filename,  but  the  timestamp  fields  are 
          filled with  gibberish  (because,  for  example,  they  were 
          produced in a different locale)?  Are the hunks that  follow 
          these lines ignored, since patch's  sanity  check  on  these 
          filename identification lines failed? 
 

WG15 response for 9945-2:1993 
-----------------------------------
The implementation is not required to do any processing of the timestamp
field of the filename identification line(s). The implementation is
required to process a hunk as per the standard, regardless of the state
or contents of the timestamp field.

Rationale for Interpretation:
-----------------------------
None.

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