gnu-patch

Npm wrapper that ships pre-extracted patch binaries and exposes them via the package bin entry (patch). Currently includes the GnuWin32 build; the structure allows adding other platforms.

Install

• Global (adds patch to PATH via npm's global bin): npm install -g gnu-patch
• Project-scoped (available via npx patch or node_modules/.bin/patch): npm install gnu-patch

Layout

• bin/win32/patch.exe — bundled GnuWin32 binary.
• bin/win32/docs/ — upstream docs and man pages (patch.1.txt, patch.1p.txt, AUTHORS, COPYING, ChangeLog).
• Entry point: index.js (wired via package.json bin field to patch).

Platform behavior

• Currently ships only the Windows binary; additional platforms can be added under bin/<platform>/.
• Until other binaries are added, non-Windows hosts will exit with an explanatory error.

Postinstall

• On Windows, scripts/postinstall.js only verifies that bin/win32/patch.exe exists; there are no downloads or extractions.
• On non-Windows hosts, postinstall prints a skip notice and exits.

Usage

• Global install: patch --version should work immediately (npm global bin is typically on PATH on Windows).
• Local install: use npx patch or node_modules/.bin/patch (no system PATH changes).
• If patch.exe ever goes missing, run npm rebuild gnu-patch or reinstall to restore bundled files.

License

MIT