xenial (1) vdiff.1.gz

Provided by: atfs_1.4pl6-13_amd64 bug

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