Diff is used to get a file of all differences between two source files/trees (sometimes called a patch). The diff tool isn't needed for building Ethereal, but it's needed if you are going to commit your changes back to the Ethereal community.
![]() | Note! |
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The recommended way to build patches is using the subversion client, see Section 2.13, “Subversion (SVN) client (optional)” for details. |
You will find more instructions in Section 4.10.2.3, “Using the diff tool” how to use the diff tool.
Diff is available for most of the UNIX-like platforms and as the diffutils package from the Cygwin setup.
If GNU diff isn't already installed and also not available as a package for your platform, you can get it at: http://www.gnu.org/software/diffutils/diffutils.html.
After correct installation, typing inside the bash:
$
diff --version
should result in something like:
diff (GNU diffutils) 2.8.7 Written by Paul Eggert, Mike Haertel, David Hayes, Richard Stallman, and Len Tower. Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
However, the version string may vary.
A native Win32 diff package can be obtained from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/. The installation should be straightforward.
The subversion client TortoiseSVN has a build in diff feature, see Section 2.13.2, “Win32 native: TortoiseSVN”. If this can be used to create diff files in the required format, so other persons can use them, is currently unknown.