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Re: foo.diff.gz "difficult to read"



OoO En ce milieu de nuit  étoilée du vendredi 25 avril 2008, vers 03:58,
Ben Finney <bignose+hates-spam@benfinney.id.au> disait:

> Vincent Bernat <bernat@debian.org> writes:
>> Did you get the mail from Alexander? [from Alexander Schmehl, on a
>> different thread.
>> <URL:http://lists.debian.org/debian-mentors/2008/04/msg00330.html>]

>> I agree with him: the diff.gz is difficult to read.

> How is it difficult to read? I've opened it in Emacs and 'zless' and
> in either of them it reads like any other diff. Like any other unified
> diff, the changes are clearly marked by file, hunk location, and
> context lines. What readability problems are you seeing? What
> improvements would you want to see in the diff?

When I  look at  a diff.gz, I  use "zgrep  '^+++ ' foo.diff.gz".  If the
files listed here are only  concerning debian/ directory, that's fine, I
just have  to look  at files in  debian/directory. Otherwise, I  have to
look at the diff more closely:
 - I don't know the purpose of the modification without reading it where
   I could guess usig the name of the patch in debian/patches
 - It  is difficult  to remove a  modification where  I can just  drop a
   patch in debian/patches
 - Often, unwanted modifications are put in diff.gz (generated files for
   example)
 - Modifications no more necessary can be kept in debian/patches to ease
   backports (or to use them again later)
 - It is difficult to transfer  a diff from one package to another while
   it is really easy for a debian/ directory
-- 
I WILL NOT BELCH THE NATIONAL ANTHEM
I WILL NOT BELCH THE NATIONAL ANTHEM
I WILL NOT BELCH THE NATIONAL ANTHEM
-+- Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode 7F15

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