Can you please tell me what's going on here ...

The intention of the patch is to alter the settings of INST_TOP, CCHOME, and EMAIL.
You could alter those settings in the GNUmakefile by hand if you like.
However, a better solution IMO, is to leave the GNUmakefile in its original state and run:

gmake INST_TOP=C:\perl_app\bin\Perl CCHOME=C:\msys64\mingw64 EMAIL=cus
+tomer_support@xyz.com
gmake test INST_TOP=C:\perl_app\bin\Perl CCHOME=C:\msys64\mingw64 EMAI
+L=customer_support@xyz.com
gmake install INST_TOP=C:\perl_app\bin\Perl CCHOME=C:\msys64\mingw64 E
+MAIL=customer_support@xyz.com
[download]

do I need to modify the makefile.patch file

If you want to make your configurational changes by running patch then yes, you will need a different patch file.
The current patch is not written for the GNUmakefile.
For example, the line

#EMAIL        *=
[download]

does not exist in GNUmakefile. Instead GNUmakefile contains:

#EMAIL        :=
[download]

and that line needs to be changed to:

EMAIL        := customer_support@xyz.com
[download]

not to:

EMAIL        *= customer_support@xyz.com
[download]

Also, the numbers in the lines like @@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ etc. are all wrong for the GNUmakefile.

Cheers,
Rob

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