gendiff

GENDIFF(1)							   GENDIFF(1)



NAME
       gendiff - utility to aid in error-free diff file generation

SYNOPSIS
       gendiff <directory> <diff-extension>

DESCRIPTION
       gendiff is a rather simple script which aids in generating a diff file
       from a single directory.	 It takes a directory name and a "diff-exten-
       sion"  as  its  only arguments.	The diff extension should be a unique
       sequence of characters added to the end of  all	original,  unmodified
       files.	The output of the program is a diff file which may be applied
       with the patch program to recreate the changes.

       The usual sequence of events for creating a  diff  is  to  create  two
       identical directories, make changes in one directory, and then use the
       diff utility to create a list of differences between the	 two.	Using
       gendiff	eliminates  the	 need  for the extra, original and unmodified
       directory copy.	Instead, only the individual files that are  modified
       need to be saved.

       Before editing a file, copy the file, appending the extension you have
       chosen to the filename.	I.e. if you were going to  edit	 somefile.cpp
       and  have  chosen  the  extension  "fix",  copy it to somefile.cpp.fix
       before editing it.  Then edit the first copy (somefile.cpp).

       After editing all the files you need to edit in	this  fashion,	enter
       the directory one level above where your source code resides, and then
       type

	   $ gendiff somedirectory .fix > mydiff-fix.patch

       You should redirect the output to a file (as illustrated)  unless  you
       want to see the results on stdout.


SEE ALSO
       diff(1), patch(1)


AUTHOR
       Marc Ewing <marc@redhat.com>



4th Berkeley Distribution      Mon Jan 10 2000			   GENDIFF(1)