Document binary file patch formats that are different from text file patch. Signed-off-by: Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@xxxxxxxxx> --- Documentation/git-format-patch.txt | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt index 247033f8fc..8de172b1f4 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt @@ -725,6 +725,28 @@ diff format is described as below: include::diff-generate-patch.txt[] +Binary Files +~~~~~~~~~~~~ +For binary files, the diff format have some differences compared to text +files: + +1. Object hashes in index header line (`index <hash>..<hash> <mode>`) + are always given in full form, as binary patch is designed to be + applied only to an exact copy of original file. This is to ensure + that such patch don't apply to file with similar name but different + hash. + +2. There are additional extended header lines specific to binary files: + + GIT binary patch + delta <bytes> + literal <bytes> + +3. The diff body can be either delta or full (literal) content, + whichever is the smallest size. It is encoded with base85 algorithm, + and emitted in 64 characters each line. All but the last line in + the body are prefixed with `z`. + SEE ALSO -------- linkgit:git-am[1], linkgit:git-send-email[1] -- 2.25.1
