What’s the Diff?
Normally, to see the differences in a file managed by git, I do this:
git diff <file>
And the output at the commandline looks about like this:
diff --git a/README b/README index 37ec8ea..1cdd33d 100644 --- a/README +++ b/README @@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ more separate. Each of these packages can be used independently outside of Rails. You can read more about Action Pack in link:files/vendor/rails/actionpack/README.html. +Testing == Getting Started
Instead of diff, you can use difftool (with git 1.6.3 or above) for a nice diff GUI.
git difftool <file>
By default that’ll bring up a text prompt asking you to chose from a selection of different diff GUI’s. The default choice, opendiff, is mapped to Apple’s FileMerge on the Mac. It’s a competent, though not a stellar option. Here is a discussion on diff GUIs for Mac. One of the nicer options is Changes.
If you add a new GUI that’s not in git’s existing list of choices, you’ll need to “teach” git about the new tool options. Here’s an example for Changes:
git config —global difftool.chdiff.cmd ‘chdiff “$LOCAL” “$REMOTE”’
Once you’ve decided which GUI you’ll use, the prompting will get annoying. You can default your choice and avoid the prompt with:
git config —global diff.tool “chdiff”
git config —global difftool.prompt false
