How to patch on Windows?

Question

Given a (source) patch file, what\'s the easiest way to apply this patch on the source files under Windows?

A GUI tool where I can visually compare the unchanged-cha

Answer 1

Not that since Git 2.3.3 (March 2015), you can use git apply --unsafe-paths to use git apply outside a git repo.

See commit 5244a31 by Junio C Hamano (gitster)

"git apply" was not very careful about reading from, removing, updating and creating paths outside the working tree (under --index/--cached) or the current directory (when used as a replacement for GNU patch).

The documentation now includes:

--unsafe-paths:

By default, a patch that affects outside the working area (either a Git controlled working tree, or the current working directory when "git apply" is used as a replacement of GNU patch) is rejected as a mistake (or a mischief).

When git apply is used as a "better GNU patch", the user can pass the --unsafe-paths option to override this safety check.
This option has no effect when --index or --cached is in use.

So if you have git installed, git apply could help, even outside of any git repo.