1GENDIFF(1)                  General Commands Manual                 GENDIFF(1)
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NAME

6       gendiff - utility to aid in error-free diff file generation
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SYNOPSIS

9       gendiff <directory> <diff-extension>
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DESCRIPTION

12       gendiff  is a rather simple script which aids in generating a diff file
13       from a single directory.  It takes a directory name and a  "diff-exten‐
14       sion"  as  its  only  arguments.  The diff extension should be a unique
15       sequence of characters added to the end  of  all  original,  unmodified
16       files.   The  output of the program is a diff file which may be applied
17       with the patch program to recreate the changes.
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19       The usual sequence of events for creating a diff is to create two iden‐
20       tical directories, make changes in one directory, and then use the diff
21       utility to create a list of differences between the two.  Using gendiff
22       eliminates  the  need  for the extra, original and unmodified directory
23       copy.  Instead, only the individual files that are modified need to  be
24       saved.
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26       Before  editing a file, copy the file, appending the extension you have
27       chosen to the filename.  I.e. if you were going  to  edit  somefile.cpp
28       and have chosen the extension "fix", copy it to somefile.cpp.fix before
29       editing it.  Then edit the first copy (somefile.cpp).
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31       After editing all the files you need to edit in this fashion, enter the
32       directory one level above where your source code resides, and then type
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34           $ gendiff somedirectory .fix > mydiff-fix.patch
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36       You  should  redirect  the output to a file (as illustrated) unless you
37       want to see the results on stdout.
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SEE ALSO

41       diff(1), patch(1)
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AUTHOR

45       Marc Ewing <marc@redhat.com>
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494th Berkeley Distribution       Mon Jan 10 2000                     GENDIFF(1)