title: Normal-format diff files giving "only garbage" error...don't want unified/context
body: <p>I'm trying to use the normal format to create a patch and then apply it.  Despite <code>-n</code> on both <code>diff</code> and <code>patch</code>, and an explicit file output <code>-o</code> on <code>patch</code>, I get the error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>patch: **** Only garbage was found in the patch input.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>How can I solve this?  I can't use unified or context patches in this case, so that's not a solution.</p>
  
  <p>Is it a bug or something?  Editor format seems to work, for some reason:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ echo a &gt; a.txt
  $ echo b &gt; b.txt
  $ diff -n a.txt b.txt &gt; ab.diff
  $ patch -n -o a.txt a.txt ab.diff
  patch: **** Only garbage was found in the patch input.
  $ diff -e a.txt b.txt &gt; ab.diff
  $ patch -e -o a.txt a.txt ab.diff
  $ diff a.txt b.txt
  $
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This is on Linux Mint 16, with:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ diff --version
  diff (GNU diffutils) 3.2
  $ patch --version
  GNU patch 2.7.1
  </code></pre>