1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
\r
2 <!DOCTYPE sect1 SYSTEM "../../../dtd/dblite.dtd">
\r
3 <sect1 id="tsvn-dug-diff">
\r
4 <title>Viewing Differences</title>
\r
6 <primary>diff</primary>
\r
9 <primary>compare</primary>
\r
12 One of the commonest requirements in project development is to
\r
13 see what has changed. You might want to look at the differences
\r
14 between two revisions of the same file, or the differences between
\r
16 TortoiseGit provides a built-in tool named
\r
17 <application>TortoiseMerge</application> for viewing differences of
\r
18 text files. For viewing differences of image files, TortoiseGit
\r
19 also has a tool named <application>TortoiseIDiff</application>.
\r
20 Of course, you can use your own favourite diff program if you
\r
23 <sect2 id="tsvn-dug-diff-file">
\r
24 <?dbhh topicname="HIDD_URLDIFF"?>
\r
25 <title>File Differences</title>
\r
28 <term>Local changes</term>
\r
31 If you want to see what changes <emphasis>you</emphasis>
\r
32 have made in your working copy, just use the explorer
\r
33 context menu and select
\r
35 <guimenu>TortoiseGit</guimenu>
\r
36 <guimenuitem>Diff</guimenuitem>
\r
42 <term>Difference to another branch/tag</term>
\r
45 If you want to see what has changed on trunk (if you are
\r
46 working on a branch) or on a specific branch (if you are
\r
47 working on trunk), you can use the explorer context menu.
\r
48 Just hold down the <keycap>Shift</keycap> key while you
\r
49 right click on the file. Then select
\r
51 <guimenu>TortoiseGit</guimenu>
\r
52 <guimenuitem>Diff with URL</guimenuitem>
\r
53 </menuchoice>. In the following dialog, specify the URL in
\r
54 the repository with which you want to compare your local
\r
58 You can also use the repository browser and select two
\r
59 trees to diff, perhaps two tags, or a branch/tag and trunk.
\r
60 The context menu there allows you to compare them
\r
61 using <guimenuitem>Compare revisions</guimenuitem>.
\r
62 Read more in <xref linkend="tsvn-dug-compare-revs"/>.
\r
67 <term>Difference from a previous revision</term>
\r
70 If you want to see the difference between a particular
\r
71 revision and your working copy, use the Revision Log
\r
72 dialog, select the revision of interest, then select
\r
73 <guimenuitem>Compare with working copy</guimenuitem>
\r
74 from the context menu.
\r
77 If you want to see the difference between the last committed
\r
78 revision and your working copy, assuming that the working copy
\r
79 hasn't been modified, just right click on the file. Then select
\r
81 <guimenu>TortoiseGit</guimenu>
\r
82 <guimenuitem>Diff with previous version</guimenuitem>
\r
84 This will perform a diff between the revision before
\r
85 the last-commit-date (as recorded in your working copy) and the
\r
86 working BASE. This shows you the last change made to that file
\r
87 to bring it to the state you now see in your working copy.
\r
88 It will not show changes newer than your working copy.
\r
93 <term>Difference between two previous revisions</term>
\r
96 If you want to see the difference between two revisions
\r
97 which are already committed, use the Revision Log
\r
98 dialog and select the two revisions you want to compare
\r
99 (using the usual <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>-modifier).
\r
100 Then select <guimenuitem>Compare revisions</guimenuitem>
\r
101 from the context menu.
\r
104 If you did this from the revision log for a folder,
\r
105 a Compare Revisions dialog appears, showing a list
\r
106 of changed files in that folder. Read more in
\r
107 <xref linkend="tsvn-dug-compare-revs"/>.
\r
112 <term>All changes made in a commit</term>
\r
115 If you want to see the changes made to all files
\r
116 in a particular revision in one view, you can
\r
117 use Unified-Diff output (GNU patch format). This shows
\r
118 only the differences with a few lines of context. It
\r
119 is harder to read than a visual file compare, but will
\r
120 show all the changes together. From the Revision Log
\r
121 dialog select the revision of interest, then select
\r
122 <guimenuitem>Show Differences as Unified-Diff</guimenuitem>
\r
123 from the context menu.
\r
128 <term>Difference between files</term>
\r
131 If you want to see the differences between two different
\r
132 files, you can do that directly in explorer by selecting
\r
133 both files (using the usual <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>-modifier).
\r
134 Then from the explorer context menu select
\r
136 <guimenu>TortoiseGit</guimenu>
\r
137 <guimenuitem>Diff</guimenuitem>
\r
143 <term>Difference between WC file/folder and a URL</term>
\r
146 If you want to see the differences between a file in your
\r
147 working copy, and a file in any Subversion repository,
\r
148 you can do that directly in explorer by selecting the
\r
149 file then holding down the <keycap>Shift</keycap> key whilst
\r
150 right clicking to obtain the context menu. Select
\r
152 <guimenu>TortoiseGit</guimenu>
\r
153 <guimenuitem>Diff with URL</guimenuitem>
\r
155 You can do the same thing for a working copy folder.
\r
156 TortoiseMerge shows these differences in the same way
\r
157 as it shows a patch file - a list of changed files which
\r
158 you can view one at a time.
\r
163 <term>Difference with blame information</term>
\r
166 If you want to see not only the differences but also the author,
\r
167 revision and date that changes were made, you can combine the
\r
168 diff and blame reports from within the revision log dialog.
\r
169 Read <xref linkend="tsvn-dug-blame-diffs"/> for more detail.
\r
174 <term>Difference between folders</term>
\r
177 The built-in tools supplied with TortoiseGit do not support
\r
178 viewing differences between directory hierarchies. But if you
\r
179 have an external tool which does support that feature, you can
\r
180 use that instead. In <xref linkend="tsvn-dug-diff-tools"/>
\r
181 we tell you about some tools which we have used.
\r
187 If you have configured a third party diff tool, you can use
\r
188 <keycap>Shift</keycap> when selecting the Diff command to
\r
189 use the alternate tool.
\r
190 Read <xref linkend="tsvn-dug-settings-progs"/> to
\r
191 find out about configuring other diff tools.
\r
194 <sect2 id="tsvn-dug-diff-eol-whitespace">
\r
195 <title>Line-end and Whitespace Options</title>
\r
197 Sometimes in the life of a project you might change the line endings
\r
198 from <literal>CRLF</literal> to <literal>LF</literal>, or you may
\r
199 change the indentation of a section. Unfortunately this will mark
\r
200 a large number of lines as changed, even though there is no change
\r
201 to the meaning of the code. The options here will help to manage
\r
202 these changes when it comes to comparing and applying differences.
\r
203 You will see these settings in the <guilabel>Merge</guilabel> and
\r
204 <guilabel>Blame</guilabel> dialogs, as well as in the settings for
\r
208 <guilabel>Ignore line endings</guilabel>
\r
209 excludes changes which are due solely to difference in line-end style.
\r
212 <guilabel>Compare whitespaces</guilabel>
\r
213 includes all changes in indentation and inline whitespace as
\r
214 added/removed lines.
\r
217 <guilabel>Ignore whitespace changes</guilabel>
\r
218 excludes changes which are due solely to a change in the
\r
219 amount or type of whitespace, eg. changing the indentation
\r
220 or changing tabs to spaces. Adding whitespace where there
\r
221 was none before, or removing a whitespace completely is still
\r
225 <guilabel>Ignore all whitespaces</guilabel>
\r
226 excludes all whitespace-only changes.
\r
229 Naturally, any line with changed content is always included in
\r
233 <sect2 id="tsvn-dug-compare-revs">
\r
234 <title>Comparing Folders</title>
\r
236 <primary>compare revisions</primary>
\r
239 <primary>export changes</primary>
\r
242 <figure id="tsvn-dug-compare-revs-dia-1">
\r
243 <title>The Compare Revisions Dialog</title>
\r
244 <graphic fileref="../images/CompareRevisions.png"/>
\r
246 When you select two trees within the repository browser, or when
\r
247 you select two revisions of a folder in the log dialog, you can
\r
249 <guimenu>Context menu</guimenu>
\r
250 <guimenuitem>Compare revisions</guimenuitem>
\r
254 This dialog shows a list of all files which have changed and allows
\r
255 you to compare or blame them individually using context menu.
\r
258 You can export a <emphasis>change tree</emphasis>, which is useful
\r
259 if you need to send someone else your project tree structure, but
\r
260 containing only the files which have changed.
\r
261 This operation works on the selected files only, so you need
\r
262 to select the files of interest - usually that means all of them -
\r
265 <guimenu>Context menu</guimenu>
\r
266 <guimenuitem>Export selection to...</guimenuitem>
\r
268 You will be prompted for a location to save the change tree.
\r
271 You can also export the <emphasis>list</emphasis> of changed files
\r
272 to a text file using
\r
274 <guimenu>Context menu</guimenu>
\r
275 <guimenuitem>Save list of selected files to...</guimenuitem>
\r
279 If you want to export the list of files <emphasis>and</emphasis>
\r
280 the actions (modified, added, deleted) as well, you can do that using
\r
282 <guimenu>Context menu</guimenu>
\r
283 <guimenuitem>Copy selection to clipboard</guimenuitem>
\r
287 The button at the top allows you to change the direction of
\r
288 comparison. You can show the changes need to get from A to B,
\r
289 or if you prefer, from B to A.
\r
292 The buttons with the revision numbers on can be used to change to a
\r
293 different revision range. When you change the range, the list of items
\r
294 which differ between the two revisions will be updated automatically.
\r
297 If the list of filenames is very long, you can use the search box
\r
298 to reduce the list to filenames containing specific text. Note that
\r
299 a simple text search is used, so if you want to restrict the list
\r
300 to C source files you should enter <filename>.c</filename> rather than
\r
301 <filename>*.c</filename>.
\r
304 <sect2 id="tsvn-dug-idiff">
\r
305 <title>Diffing Images Using TortoiseIDiff</title>
\r
307 <primary>image diff</primary>
\r
310 <primary>TortoiseIDiff</primary>
\r
313 There are many tools available for diffing text files, including our
\r
314 own TortoiseMerge, but we often find ourselves wanting to see how
\r
315 an image file has changed too. That's why we created TortoiseIDiff.
\r
318 <figure id="tsvn-dug-idiff-dia-1">
\r
319 <title>The image difference viewer</title>
\r
320 <graphic fileref="../images/TortoiseIDiff.png"/>
\r
323 <guimenu>TortoiseGit</guimenu>
\r
324 <guimenuitem>Diff</guimenuitem>
\r
326 for any of the common image file formats will start TortoiseIDiff
\r
327 to show image differences. By default the images are displayed side-by-side
\r
328 but you can use the View menu or toolbar to switch to a top-bottom
\r
329 view instead, or if you prefer, you can overlay the images and pretend
\r
330 you are using a lightbox.
\r
333 Naturally you can also zoom in and out and pan around the image.
\r
334 You can also pan the image simply by left-dragging it.
\r
335 If you select the <guilabel>Link images together</guilabel> option,
\r
336 then the pan controls (scrollbars, mousewheel) on both images are linked.
\r
339 An image info box shows details about the image file, such as the
\r
340 size in pixels, resolution and colour depth. If this box gets in the
\r
343 <guimenu>View</guimenu>
\r
344 <guimenuitem>Image Info</guimenuitem>
\r
347 You can get the same information in a tooltip if you hover the mouse
\r
348 over the image title bar.
\r
351 When the images are overlaid, the relative intensity of the images
\r
352 (alpha blend) is controlled by a slider control at the left side.
\r
353 You can click anywhere in the slider to set the blend directly, or you
\r
354 can drag the slider to change the blend interactively.
\r
355 <keycap>Ctrl+Shift</keycap>-<action>Wheel</action> to change the blend.
\r
358 The button above the slider toggles between two preset blends, indicated
\r
359 by the markers on either side of the blend slider. By default one is at
\r
360 the top and the other at the bottom, so the toggle button just switches
\r
361 between one image and the other. You can move the markers to choose
\r
362 the two blend values that the toggle button will use.
\r
365 Sometimes you want to see a difference rather than a blend. You might
\r
366 have the image files for two revisions of a printed circuit board and
\r
367 want to see which tracks have changed. If you disable alpha blend mode,
\r
368 the difference will be shown as an <emphasis>XOR</emphasis> of the pixel
\r
369 colour values. Unchanged areas will be plain white and changes will be
\r
373 <sect2 id="tsvn-dug-diff-tools">
\r
374 <title>External Diff/Merge Tools</title>
\r
376 <primary>diff tools</primary>
\r
379 <primary>merge tools</primary>
\r
382 If the tools we provide don't do what you need, try one of the many
\r
383 open-source or commercial programs available. Everyone has their own
\r
384 favourites, and this list is by no means complete, but here are a few
\r
385 that you might consider:
\r
389 <term>WinMerge</term>
\r
392 <ulink url="http://winmerge.sourceforge.net/">
\r
393 <citetitle>WinMerge</citetitle>
\r
395 is a great open-source diff tool which can also
\r
396 handle directories.
\r
401 <term>Perforce Merge</term>
\r
404 Perforce is a commercial RCS, but you can download the
\r
405 diff/merge tool for free. Get more information from
\r
406 <ulink url="http://www.perforce.com/perforce/products/merge.html">
\r
407 <citetitle>Perforce</citetitle>
\r
413 <term>KDiff3</term>
\r
416 KDiff3 is a free diff tool which can also handle
\r
417 directories. You can download it from
\r
418 <ulink url="http://kdiff3.sf.net/">
\r
419 <citetitle>here</citetitle>
\r
425 <term>ExamDiff</term>
\r
428 ExamDiff Standard is freeware. It can handle
\r
429 files but not directories.
\r
430 ExamDiff Pro is shareware and adds a number
\r
431 of goodies including directory diff and editing
\r
433 In both flavours, version 3.2 and above can handle
\r
434 unicode. You can download them from
\r
435 <ulink url="http://www.prestosoft.com/">
\r
436 <citetitle>PrestoSoft</citetitle>
\r
442 <term>Beyond Compare</term>
\r
445 Similar to ExamDiff Pro, this is an excellent shareware
\r
446 diff tool which can handle directory diffs and unicode.
\r
448 <ulink url="http://www.scootersoftware.com/">
\r
449 <citetitle>Scooter Software</citetitle>
\r
455 <term>Araxis Merge</term>
\r
458 Araxis Merge is a useful commercial tool for diff and merging
\r
459 both files and folders. It does three-way comparison in merges
\r
460 and has synchronization links to use if you've changed the order
\r
461 of functions. Download it from
\r
462 <ulink url="http://www.araxis.com/merge/index.html">
\r
463 <citetitle>Araxis</citetitle>
\r
472 This text editor includes syntax colouring for unified diffs,
\r
473 making them much easier to read. Download it from
\r
474 <ulink url="http://www.scintilla.org/SciTEDownload.html">
\r
475 <citetitle>Scintilla</citetitle>
\r
481 <term>Notepad2</term>
\r
484 Notepad2 is designed as a replacement for the standard
\r
485 Windows Notepad program, and is based on the Scintilla
\r
486 open-source edit control. As well as being good for
\r
487 viewing unified diffs, it is much better than the
\r
488 Windows notepad for most jobs. Download it for free
\r
489 <ulink url="http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html">
\r
490 <citetitle>here</citetitle>
\r
497 Read <xref linkend="tsvn-dug-settings-progs"/> for information
\r
498 on how to set up TortoiseGit to use these tools.
\r
OSDN Git Service
