+my $patches_dir = 'patches';
+my $incl_generated_files;
+
+if (@ARGV && $ARGV[0] =~ /^--gen(?:=(\S+))?$/) {
+ $patches_dir = $1 if defined $1;
+ $incl_generated_files = 1;
+ shift;
+}
+
+die "No '$patches_dir' directory was found.\n" unless -d $patches_dir;