Is there a way to pipe the diff output into patch? The -i parameter is for specifying a diff file, but I just want to do it more dynamically, since I will be updating regularly against a directory that changes frequently.
For instacne, something along the lines of
patch -b | diff -Nub . /current-files
?
The man file says
-i patchfile or --input=patchfile
Read the patch from patchfile. If patchfile is -, read from standard input, the default.
But when I try it, I just see the output of the diff on the screen, with no changes applied:
testb $> ls
file.txt
testb $> patch -i - | diff -Nub . ../testa
diff -Nub ./file.txt ../testa/file.txt
--- ./file.txt 2011-07-12 09:40:08.195467000 -0400
+++ ../testa/file.txt 2011-07-12 09:39:11.181666500 -0400
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
ijaosdfji
jaiosdfjio
jklasdkml
-asdkml
-s;lnk
-lsadjkl
-asdfas
-asdf
+klasdkml
+nas;lnk
+jklsadjkl
diff -Nub ./file2.txt ../testa/file2.txt
--- ./file2.txt 1969-12-31 19:00:00.000000000 -0500
+++ ../testa/file2.txt 2011-07-12 09:39:44.196235000 -0400
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+aljksdf
+jklasdflkjlknm
+nksalk;
+klaskl;
+ioasjdoiaj
+lkmasd'lkm
testb $> ls
file.txt
