154 lines
6.3 KiB
Text
154 lines
6.3 KiB
Text
Dirdiff-2.1.
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Paul Mackerras
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<paulus@samba.org>
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Dirdiff is a graphical tool for displaying the differences between
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directory trees and for merging changes from one tree into another.
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Dirdiff can handle up to 5 trees. It displays a main window with a
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list of the files which are different between the trees, with colored
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squares to indicate the relative ages of the versions. A menu allows
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you to display the differences between any two of the versions in
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another window. Another menu allows you to copy the file from one
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tree to another.
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The differences window basically displays the output of `diff -u' with
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colored backgrounds to indicate which version each line comes from.
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The differences window also has a series of checkboxes which allow you
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to selectively apply changes from one version to another. You apply
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the selected changes using the merge menu. Dirdiff will then pop up
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another window containing the merged file. You can then edit the
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merged version and save it back into file.
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Dirdiff now also has a file mode, which can be used for viewing the
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differences between files and for merging changes from one file into
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another. This mode is invoked if regular files are specified on the
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command line (or in the new directory/file chooser, see below) rather
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than directories. (Dirdiff will exit with an error message if some
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files and some directories are specified.)
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What's new in dirdiff-2.1.
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--------------------------
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* The diff display window can now display 3-way, 4-way and 5-way diffs
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as well as the normal 2-way diffs. When a line is identified as
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coming from multiple files, most of it will be colored for the
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newest of those files, and extra colored bars at the left of the
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line will identify which other files it is in.
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* You can now modify the diff display interactively (for example, to
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make it more understandable). You can use the middle mouse button
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to drag the blue separator bars to expose more context, or drag
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colored diff lines up and down (the movement is constrained so as to
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not alter the meaning of the diff). Dragging context lines splits
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them into colored diff lines.
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* There is now a menu on the diff display window for generating
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patches embodying the changes that could be made with the merge
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menu. That is, the diff lines that are checked in the diff viewer
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will be made into - and + lines in the generated patch.
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* The BitKeeper integration feature has been removed. I plan to add
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generic features for integration with arbitrary SCM systems in
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future.
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What was new in dirdiff-2.0.
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----------------------------
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* Some great new features from Dorothy Robinson:
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- A dialog box for choosing the directories to be diffed, if dirdiff
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is invoked without specifying any directories or files on the
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command line.
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- Colored icons instead of squares in the file list window.
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- Colored icons in the Diff and Copy/Del menus (provided you are
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using Tk 8.4 or later).
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- Modifications so dirdiff can be used under Windows.
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- A color key showing the ordering of the colors.
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- Use of two-level menus for the Diff, Copy/Del and Patch menus (the
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Diff and Copy/Del menus use two levels only when there are
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sufficient alternatives for it to make things simpler).
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- A filename search function using the filename bar in the file list
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window.
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- Options to allow the user to select external diff and file viewer
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programs.
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* There is now a mode for ignoring files in a directory if they match
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any of the patterns listed in the .cvsignore in that directory.
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This is invoked with the -C command-line option or by choosing the
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"Ignore files in .cvsignore" option in the Options menu.
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* Some users have requested a mode in which, when a directory exists
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in one tree but not another, dirdiff display the files in that
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directory as existing in the one tree but not the other (rather than
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displaying just a single line for the directory). This mode is
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enabled by choosing the "Show files that aren't in some dirs" option
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in the Options menu.
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* Trees can now be marked as "read-only" in the Options menu. This
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means that menu options that would modify those trees (in the
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Copy/Del, Touch and Merge menus) will not be offered.
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* Files can be added to the excluded file list by selecting them and
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choosing "Exclude selection" under the File menu.
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* Changes to the "Underline tabs" mode now take effect immediately.
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Installation.
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-------------
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Dirdiff is a Tcl/TK script, so no compilation is required. Dirdiff
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however can make use of a shared library called filecmp.so.0.0 for
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comparing files. This is optional, but it has two benefits: (a)
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comparing files is faster with filecmp.so.0.0 (without it, dirdiff has
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to start an external process running `cmp'), and (b) filecmp.so.0.0
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can optionally ignore RCS and BK strings when it is comparing two files.
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The Makefile in this directory will compile filecmp.so.0.0, and
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install it and dirdiff. By default dirdiff is installed in /usr/bin
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and filecmp.so.0.0 is installed in /usr/lib. Doing `make' will
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compile filecmp.so.0.0; `make install' will install dirdiff and
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filecmp.so.0.0.
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Usage.
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------
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To use dirdiff, you invoke it from the command line with a list of
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directories (between 2 and 5). For example, suppose I have 3 copies
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of the Linux kernel source code, in directories called linux, bk, and
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pmac. I can see the differences between these 3 trees with a command
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like:
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$ dirdiff linux bk pmac
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This will display the file list window and start comparing the trees,
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displaying files which differ as they are found. To see the
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differences between two versions, click on the file name and then
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select the versions to compare from the Diff menu. To copy from one
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tree to another, click on the file name and select the copy operation
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from the Copy menu.
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In the differences window, there are checkboxes to the left of all the
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sections which are different. You can use button 1 to select an
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individual checkbox, or shift-button 1 or button 3 to select a whole
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group. Selecting a line means that you are asking for that change to
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be made when you update either of the files using the Merge menu. The
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line will be removed if it is already present or added if it is not
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present.
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Starting with dirdiff-2.0, you can start dirdiff without any arguments
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and it will pop up a dialog box where you can enter the directories to
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be compared.
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