packages icon
gtkdiff 1.7.0

Development branch
==================
Gtkdiff-1.x.0 (x > 0) is a development branch, headed for gtkdiff-2.0.0.
If you want a stable version, please use gtkdiff-1.0.x (x > 0).


General Information
===================
Gtkdiff is a diff front-end program using GTK+(GNOME).


Installation
============
See the file 'INSTALL' for instructions.


Copyright
=========
GPL applies all portions of the code I wrote. Please see COPYING file.


Usage
=====
To run, e.g.
$ gtkdiff [--geometry 800x600] [from-file(dir)] [to-file(dir)]
Then,
use menus (menu-bar and right-click menu).
That is all you can do.

Note: If text-wrap is enabled, some navigations become slower and 
some features are missing. 
I suggest you to set text-wrap off as default, and enable it 
only when you need it.

"gtkdiff-rcs" is a simple shell script that launches gtkdiff for RCS files.
You can see its usage by seeing script itself, or output from 
gtkdiff-rcs --help
The implemented features are only what I need, so it might lack what you need.
I think that gtkdiff-rcs will become obsolete, after a fancy RCS-frontend 
program appears.

"gtkdiff-cvs" is a simple shell script that lanuches gtkdiff for CVS files.


Features
========
* It has two view modes, one-pane and two-panes.
* Support directory diff.
* Easy navigation across different portions. (ctrl-n and ctrl-p are your friend)
* Interactive merge operation.


About merge operations
======================
Now, mouse operations are insufficient.
I recommend you to use keyboard for the operations.
You can change different portions with ctrl-n(next) and ctrl-p(previous),
and statusbar shows you which portions are chosen.
(On startup, nothing is chosen. Do press ctrl-n.)
Then, you can insert or remove them into merged text
with ctrl-1(insert file1), ctrl-2(insert file2),
ctrl-9(remove file1), and ctrl-8(remove file2).


About GNOME
===========
After gtkdiff-0.8.0, gtkdiff requires GNOME(gnome-libs).
If you can't install GNOME to your machine, try gtkdiff-0.7.0.
gtkdiff-0.7.0 is the last version that doesn't require GNOME.
Although gtkdiff-0.7.0 will not be maintained, the basic features are 
almost implemented.
(Updated info.: gtkdiff-0.7.0 is getting more and more obsolete.
 I can't recommend you to use gtkdiff-0.7.0.)


About colors
============
You can sepcify the colors on text widget and overview widget by preference.
Other colors are specified by rc file.
If you think it is a bad design, let me know.

On some environments(I guess it depends on 'theme'), you couldn't see slider 
on overview widget. 
I think it happens because gtkdiff can't find its rc file.
See the following section about rc file.


About rc file
=============
The rc file is installed in $datadir/gtkdiff/gtkdiffrc, 
e.g. /usr/local/share/gtkdiff/gtkdiffrc.

Gtkdiff will search its rc file as following order,
1. ./.gtkdiffrc   [current directory]
2. $HOME/.gtkdiffrc [home directory]
3. $datadir/gtkdiff/gtkdiffrc [system directory]
Once a file found, gtkdiff doesn't continue searching other rc files.

The reason why gtkdiff reads its own rc file, is mainly to specify 
fixed-width fonts.
As a result, even if you set your default font as fontset, it's overridden.
Therefore, if you want to see Japanese characters, you need to modify 
the rc file by yourself. (please omit the comment.)


Platform specific info
======================
On RedHat6.0, you will see the following message,

Gtk-CRITICAL **: file gtkwidget.c: line 1592 (gtk_widget_map): assertion `GTK_WIDGET_VISIBLE (widget) == TRUE' failed.

This is a gtk+-1.2.3 library's problem.
Please update it to gtk+-1.2.x (x >= 4), or ignore the message.
Even on other systems, you may see it if you're using gtk+-1.2.3.


How to report bugs etc.
=======================
Please send e-mail to the following address.
inoue@ainet.or.jp

If you put "gtkdiff" at the subject, it would help me.


URL
===
http://www.ainet.or.jp/~inoue/software/gtkdiff/index.html (Japanese)
http://www.ainet.or.jp/~inoue/software/gtkdiff/index-e.html (English)