# This function takes as an argument a filename of a patch and sets $REPLY to
# a single-line "subject", or unsets it if no subject could be extracted.
{
    setopt localoptions extendedglob
    integer i
    integer -r LIMIT=10
    local -a lines
    local needle
    readonly svn_log_pattern='^r[0-9]* [|] .*'
    if [[ -f "$1" ]]; then
        # Extract the first LIMIT lines, or up to the first empty line or the start of the unidiffs,
        # whichever comes first.
        while (( i++ < LIMIT )); do
            IFS= read -r "lines[$i]"
            if [[ -z ${lines[$i]} ]] || [[ ${lines[$i]} == (#b)(---[^-]|Index:)* ]]; then
                lines[$i]=()
                # For 'svn log -r N --diff' output, read the first paragraph too.
                if ! [[ $lines[i-1] =~ $svn_log_pattern ]]; then
                    break
                fi
            fi
        done < "$1"
        
        if needle=${lines[(i)Subject:*]}; (( needle <= $#lines )); then
            # "Subject: foo" line, plus rfc822 whitespace unfolding.
            #
            # Example: 'git format-patch' patches.
            REPLY=${lines[needle]}
            REPLY=${REPLY#*: }
            REPLY=${REPLY#\[PATCH\] }
            while [[ ${${lines[++needle]}[1]} == ' ' ]]; do
                REPLY+=${lines[needle]}
            done
        elif needle=${lines[(r)Description:*]}; [[ -n $needle ]]; then
            # "Description: foo" line.
            #
            # Example: DEP-3 patches.
            REPLY=${needle#*: }
        elif [[ ${lines[1]} == '# HG changeset patch' ]] && { needle=${${lines:#([#]*)}[1]}; [[ -n $needle ]] }; then
            # Mercurial patch
            REPLY=$needle
        elif [[ ${lines[1]} == "commit "[0-9a-f](#c40) ]] &&
             [[ ${lines[2]} == "Author:"* && ${lines[3]} == "Date:"* ]] &&
             (( ! ${+lines[4]} )); then
            # `git show` output.
            #
            # The log message is after the first blank line, so open() the file
            # again.  Also check whether the following line (second line of the
            # log message itself) is empty.
            {
              repeat 4 { IFS= read -r }
              IFS= read -r needle; needle=${needle#'    '}
              if IFS= read -r; REPLY=${REPLY#'    '}; [[ -n $REPLY ]]; then
                needle+='...'
              fi
            } < "$1"
            REPLY=$needle
        elif [[ $lines[2] =~ $svn_log_pattern ]]; then
            REPLY=$lines[4]
            if (( ${+lines[5]} )); then REPLY+='...'; fi
        elif (( ${+lines[1]} )); then
            # The first line of the file is not part of the diff.
            REPLY=${lines[1]}
        else
            # The patch has no subject.
            unset REPLY
            return 0
        fi
    else
        # The patch cannot be examined, or invalid arguments.
        unset REPLY
        return 1
    fi
}