# HG changeset patch # User Bryan O'Sullivan # Date 1167353156 28800 # Node ID e1e2f3e0256aebb873996f3e8cd54c1d4a810249 # Parent 153efeaa8f57a00de099a5677816a7b4b9946067 Start command reference, with the diff command. diff -r 153efeaa8f57 -r e1e2f3e0256a en/00book.tex --- a/en/00book.tex Thu Dec 28 14:10:23 2006 -0800 +++ b/en/00book.tex Thu Dec 28 16:45:56 2006 -0800 @@ -46,9 +46,10 @@ \include{template} \include{mq} \include{mq-collab} -\include{mq-ref} \appendix +\include{cmdref} +\include{mq-ref} \include{srcinstall} \include{license} \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Bibliography} diff -r 153efeaa8f57 -r e1e2f3e0256a en/99defs.tex --- a/en/99defs.tex Thu Dec 28 14:10:23 2006 -0800 +++ b/en/99defs.tex Thu Dec 28 16:45:56 2006 -0800 @@ -116,6 +116,12 @@ \newcommand{\grafix}[1]{\includegraphics{#1.png}} \fi +% Reference entry for a command. +\newcommand{\cmdref}[1]{\section{#1}\label{cmdref:#1}\index{\texttt{#1} command}``\texttt{hg #1}''} + +% Reference entry for a command option. +\newcommand{\optref}[2]{\index{\texttt{#1} command!\texttt{#2} option}\texttt{#2}} + %%% Local Variables: %%% mode: latex %%% TeX-master: "00book" diff -r 153efeaa8f57 -r e1e2f3e0256a en/Makefile --- a/en/Makefile Thu Dec 28 14:10:23 2006 -0800 +++ b/en/Makefile Thu Dec 28 16:45:56 2006 -0800 @@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ 99book.bib \ 99defs.tex \ build_id.tex \ + cmdref.tex \ concepts.tex \ daily.tex \ hook.tex \ diff -r 153efeaa8f57 -r e1e2f3e0256a en/cmdref.tex --- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000 +++ b/en/cmdref.tex Thu Dec 28 16:45:56 2006 -0800 @@ -0,0 +1,106 @@ +\chapter{Command reference} +\label{cmdref} + +\cmdref{diff} + +Show differences between revisions for the specified files or +directories, using the unified diff format. For a description of the +unified diff format, see section~\ref{sec:mq:patch}. + +\optref{diff}{-r}{--rev} + +Specify a revision to compare. + +\optref{diff}{-a}{--text} + +If this option is not specified, \hgcmd{diff} will refuse to print +diffs for files that it detects as binary. Specifying \hgopt{diff}{-a} +forces \hgcmd{diff} to treat all files as text, and generate diffs for +all of them. + +This option is useful for files that are ``mostly text'' but have a +few embedded NUL characters. If you use it on files that are really +binary, its output will be incomprehensible. + +\subsection{Specifying revisions} + +The \hgcmd{diff} command accepts up to two \hgopt{diff}{-r} options to +specify the revisions to compare. + +\begin{enumerate} +\setcounter{enumi}{0} +\item Display the differences between the parent of the working + directory and the working directory. +\item Display the differences between the specified changeset and the + working directory. +\item Display the differences between the two specified changesets. +\end{enumerate} + +You can specify two revisions using either two \hgopt{diff}{-r} +options or revision range notation. For example, the two revision +specifications below are equivalent. +\begin{codesample2} + hg diff -r 10 -r 20 + hg diff -r10:20 +\end{codesample2} + +When you provide two revisions, Mercurial treats the order of those +revisions as significant. Thus, \hgcmdargs{diff}{-r10:20} will +produce a diff that will transform files from their contents as of +revision~10 to their contents as of revision~20, while +\hgcmdargs{diff}{-r20:10} means the opposite: the diff that will +transform files from their revision~20 contents to their revision~10 +contents. You cannot reverse the ordering in this way if you are +diffing against the working directory. + +\subsection{Why do the results of \hgcmd{diff} and \hgcmd{status} + differ?} +\label{cmdref:diff-vs-status} + +When you run the \hgcmd{status} command, you'll see a list of files +that Mercurial will record changes for the next time you perform a +commit. If you run the \hgcmd{diff} command, you may notice that it +prints diffs for only a \emph{subset} of the files that \hgcmd{status} +listed. There are two possible reasons for this. + +The first is that \hgcmd{status} prints some kinds of modifications +that \hgcmd{diff} doesn't normally display. The \hgcmd{diff} command +normally outputs unified diffs, which don't have the ability to +represent some changes that Mercurial can track. Most notably, +traditional diffs can't represent a change in whether or not a file is +executable, but Mercurial records this information. + +If you use the \hgopt{diff}{--git} option to \hgcmd{diff}, it will +display \command{git}-compatible diffs that \emph{can} display this +extra information. + +The second possible reason that \hgcmd{diff} might be printing diffs +for a subset of the files displayed by \hgcmd{status} is that if you +invoke it without any arguments, \hgcmd{diff} prints diffs against the +first parent of the working directory. If you have run \hgcmd{merge} +to merge two changesets, but you haven't yet committed the results of +the merge, your working directory has two parents (use \hgcmd{parents} +to see them). While \hgcmd{status} prints modifications relative to +\emph{both} parents after an uncommitted merge, \hgcmd{diff} still +operates relative only to the first parent. You can get it to print +diffs relative to the second parent by specifying that parent with the +\hgopt{diff}{-r} option. There is no way to print diffs relative to +both parents. + +\subsection{Generating safe binary diffs} + +If you use the \hgopt{diff}{-a} option to force Mercurial to print +diffs of files that are either ``mostly text'' or contain lots of +binary data, those diffs cannot subsequently be applied by either +Mercurial's \hgcmd{import} command or the system's \command{patch} +command. + +If you want to generate a diff of a binary file that is safe to use as +input for \hgcmd{import}, use the \hgcmd{diff}{--git} option when you +generate the patch. The system \command{patch} command cannot handle +binary patches at all. + +%%% Local Variables: +%%% mode: latex +%%% TeX-master: "00book" +%%% End: