Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2001 08:12:38 +0300 (IDT)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
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To: Martin Str|mberg <ams AT father DOT ludd DOT luth DOT se>
cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: Binary patch program
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On Sun, 1 Jul 2001, Martin Str|mberg wrote:

> Is there a diff/patch program that can make changes to binary files,
> e. g. .EXE files?

Indeed, there is.

First, Diff and Patch can do that if you invoke both of them with the 
"--binary" option.  But since Diff's algorithms are optimized for text 
files, the diffs to binary files are usually quite large (you could 
compress them, though).

Another possibility is the XDelta program.  It is specifically optimized 
for binary files, so the patches are smaller, but it's a terrible memory 
hog (so don't try to run it on a 4MB 386 ;-).  A DJGPP port is available; 
it should be on SimTel.NET (look for xdlt*.zip).