debian man page for bsdiff

BSDIFF(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						 BSDIFF(1)

NAME
     bsdiff -- generate a patch between two binary files

SYNOPSIS
     bsdiff <oldfile> <newfile> <patchfile>

DESCRIPTION
     bsdiff compares <oldfile> to <newfile> and writes to <patchfile> a binary patch suitable for use by bspatch(1).  When <oldfile> and <newfile>
     are two versions of an executable program, the patches produced are on average a factor of five smaller than those produced by any other
     binary patch tool known to the author.

     bsdiff uses memory equal to 17 times the size of <oldfile>, and requires an absolute minimum working set size of 8 times the size of oldfile.

SEE ALSO
     bspatch(1)

AUTHORS
     Colin Percival <cperciva@freebsd.org>

FreeBSD 							   May 18, 2003 							   FreeBSD