Re: diff-mode merge tool for e.g. filesystem trees

[Samuel Wales <samologist@gmail.com>]

and i discovered the name just after pressing send.

the thing i recall is probably diffsync.el.  it is very different from
my design.


On 9/3/22, Samuel Wales <samologist@gmail.com> wrote:
> i seem to recall a package flew by that merges files using diff mode.
> i can't seem to find it anywhere.  anybody recall?
>
> i was interested because i once designed a filesystem tree differ and
> thought perhaps the new package could too.
>
> i vaguely recall that both the new package and my design use the diff
> gutter for marks.  both view fs trees as text.
>
>
> p.s.  fwiw, here are my notes on /my/ design.  i don't know the new
> package.
>
> for unrelated reasons i cannot implement this.  just a design.
> anybody is very welcome to of course.
>
> ===
>
> pathnames are after the first tab.  metadata can be
> displayed before the first tab.
>
> for example:
>
>   "---rw-r--r--,34668	./boot/grub/gcry_camellia.mod"
>   "+--rw-r--r--,5	./boot/grub/gcry_camellia.mod"
>
> you can perform operations.
>
> operations only apply to the b tree.  that is, unlike most
> mergers, we are not trying to modify a, but instead make b
> perfect.
>
> ===
>
> operations on dirs will apply to everything under them also.
> operations on - or + will apply to the opposite also.
>
>   - k :: dim with `'
>   - ' :: delete dimmed and context
>   - \ :: ediff -+ using my algo
>
>   - d :: mark delete in b
>   - e :: mark ediff a b files
>   - c :: mark copy a to b
>
>   - u :: unmark
>   - U :: unmark
>
>   - x :: execute
>   - s :: put a shell script in a new buffer
>
> advanced:
>
>    - t :: dim stuff underneath (act as a truncating differ
>      like diff -ur)
>   - ? :: dim not in both
>   - ? :: dim all in both
>   - ? :: reduce dirname (see command)
> ********* REF use case: merging a SUBSET into an older full fileset
>
> this is an example of a problem we are trying to solve using
> these merging capabilities.
>
> ===
>
> suppose you back up your computer nightly.  but the backup
> drive is too small, so you only backup a SUBSET of your files.
>
> then your computer crashes.  you start running from SUBSET.
> you do not have access to your ORIGINAL (a.k.a. the FULL
> FILESET) because ORIGINAL is on internal drives that cannot
> be physically extracted.
>
> you make a lot of changes to what started out as SUBSET.
>
> you finally get access to ORIGINAL.  now merge SUBSET into
> ORIGINAL so that you get full set of files with your
> changes.  this is the problem we try to solve.
>


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