From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2017 19:38:19 GMT
Subject: Re: fuzzy patch application
Message-ID: <xmqq37flltuc.fsf@gitster.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAKwvOdn9j=_Ob=xq4ucN6Ar1G537zNiU9ox4iF6o1qO7kPY41A@mail.gmail.com>

Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@google.com> writes:

> I frequently need to backport patches from the Linux kernel to older
> kernel versions (Android Security)....
> ...
> My question is, why does `patch` seem to do a better job at applying
> patches than `git am`?  It's almost like the `git` tools don't try to fuzz
> the offsets.

You diagnosed correctly.  We do allow offsets but by default no fuzz
and that is a deliberate design decision made in very early days.
You can pass option to reduce context, but that is not the default.