Chuck Robey wrote:
Nice description, but you'd better include enough info so that they could make FreeBSD-stype diffs: diff has the unfortunate default of making an output that is compatible with ed(1). This supplies extremely little information to use, in case the file you're trying to patch with that diff has changed, and is also damned hard for mere humans to understand. There are two other options you can give to diff that change the format: -c gives "context" diffs, and -u gives "unified" diffs, and the -u is the option that is standard with FreeBSD.
It's not FreeBSD's default, it's POSIX's and has been the default behaviour of diff since forever (i.e. before -c or -u had even been invented); it is also the default behaviour of diff on every version of Linux I've ever used as well and probably every unix-like box you can get your hands on. Backwards compatibility *is* a wonderful thing.
-u is a newbie to the diff world of options and is the strongly *preferred* way of providing patches, and probably not just for FreeBSD. It's generally the easiest for humans to read and the best for general use, though -c isn't that hard either and can sometimes be easier to comprehend.
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