NAME¶
vdiff - display line-by-line differences between versions of files
SYNOPSIS¶
vdiff [
diff-options ] [
-base path ] [
-P ] files ..
DESCRIPTION¶
vdiff is a differential comparator for file versions that are stored in
shapeTools' object base,
AtFS. The functionality of
vdiff
is very similar to the
diff command on your host. All options and
switches that are recognized by
diff can also be specified for
vdiff.
The arguments to
vdiff can either be a single filename, or a pair of
version identifiers. If only a filename is specified,
vdiff
prints the differences between the specified file and the most recent version
of this file that is stored in the AtFS object base. A file can be compared to
any stored version by specifying the version as first, and the filename as
second argument. If both arguments are version identifiers, the difference
between these two versions is printed.
Differences between files and versions can be printed in any style that is
supported by the local
diff program.
Version identifiers consist of the filename, and a version number or alias name
for a version, enclosed in brackets. Example:
retrieve.c[4.22] or retrieve.c[Rel-4.1]
vdiff creates temporary copies of the versions that shall be compared,
invokes the
diff command, and finally removes the temporary copies.
OPTIONS¶
- -base path
- If vdiff is told to produce a context diff, the filenames of
the compared objects are mangeled so that the specified path
replaces the path of the current directory in the full pathnames appearing
in the diff-header. This is useful to replace an absolute pathname by a
relative pathname and makes the produced context-diff easier to digest for
the patch program.
- -P
- With the -P switch turned on, vdiff won't give up if one of
the two objects that shall be compared does not exist. In this case an
empty object is substituted for the missing one, causing the diff to be
the complete contents of the existing object. This is useful in situations
when complex patches are produced that upgrade one release of a software
system to a new release, and the system has structurally changed (i.e. new
files have been added to the system).
SEE ALSO¶
diff(1),
vcat(1)
AUTHOR¶
Axel.Mahler@cs.tu-berlin.de