diff-mode

diff-mode

[Andrea Crotti]

The other day I was preparing a talk with a collegue on revision
control, and we've also show how to use basic diff and patch.

Even if most of the work was done in emacs, we used vim to show the diff
file, since it's much more colorful.

Anyway after I solved customizing some faces

 '(diff-added ((t (:inherit diff-changed :background "black" :foreground "Yellow"))))
 '(diff-changed ((nil (:foreground "medium purple"))))
 '(diff-header ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background dark)) (:background "grey22" :foreground "red" :height 1.2))))
 '(diff-indicator-removed ((t (:inherit diff-removed))))
 '(diff-removed ((t (:background "black" :foreground "indian red"))))

Now it's even too much contrast :D
But then I thought, wouldn't it be possible to show the normal syntax
highlighting of the given mode and use some background/font style to
differentiate what's to add/remove?

I think even if it's a diff code would look more clear and nice if it's
in the "right" colors...

Re: diff-mode

[rusi]

On Dec 12, 4:44 pm, Andrea Crotti <andrea.crott...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The other day I was preparing a talk with a collegue on revision
> control, and we've also show how to use basic diff and patch.
>
> Even if most of the work was done in emacs, we used vim to show the diff
> file, since it's much more colorful.
>
> Anyway after I solved customizing some faces
>
>  '(diff-added ((t (:inherit diff-changed :background "black" :foreground "Yellow"))))
>  '(diff-changed ((nil (:foreground "medium purple"))))
>  '(diff-header ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background dark)) (:background "grey22" :foreground "red" :height 1.2))))
>  '(diff-indicator-removed ((t (:inherit diff-removed))))
>  '(diff-removed ((t (:background "black" :foreground "indian red"))))
>
> Now it's even too much contrast :D
> But then I thought, wouldn't it be possible to show the normal syntax
> highlighting of the given mode and use some background/font style to
> differentiate what's to add/remove?
>
> I think even if it's a diff code would look more clear and nice if it's
> in the "right" colors...

Thanks Andrea for this... But its not diff-... out here but ediff-...
(I am on emacs 23.1.1)

RE: diff-mode

[Drew Adams]

> The other day I was preparing a talk with a collegue on revision
> control, and we've also show how to use basic diff and patch.
> Even if most of the work was done in emacs, we used vim to 
> show the diff file, since it's much more colorful.
> Anyway after I solved customizing some faces
...
> Now it's even too much contrast :D
> But then I thought, wouldn't it be possible to show the normal syntax
> highlighting of the given mode and use some background/font style to
> differentiate what's to add/remove?
> 
> I think even if it's a diff code would look more clear and 
> nice if it's in the "right" colors...

See also:
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/DiffEnhancements

http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/diff%2b.el

Re: diff-mode

[Andrea Crotti]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>> The other day I was preparing a talk with a collegue on revision
>> control, and we've also show how to use basic diff and patch.
>> Even if most of the work was done in emacs, we used vim to 
>> show the diff file, since it's much more colorful.
>> Anyway after I solved customizing some faces
> ...
>> Now it's even too much contrast :D
>> But then I thought, wouldn't it be possible to show the normal syntax
>> highlighting of the given mode and use some background/font style to
>> differentiate what's to add/remove?
>> 
>> I think even if it's a diff code would look more clear and 
>> nice if it's in the "right" colors...
>
> See also:
> http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/DiffEnhancements
>
> http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/diff%2b.el

Sorry but I don't see that much difference in diff+, the only things
done more is

calls `fit-frame-if-one-window' at end, which by the way I don't find
anywhere in the doc, not even with M-x apropos.

My desire was to see the diff with the syntax highlighting of the
original language, it it could be possible...

Re: diff-mode

[Andrea Crotti]

rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> writes:

>
> Thanks Andrea for this... But its not diff-... out here but ediff-...
> (I am on emacs 23.1.1)

If I understand you correctly you mean that I should not use diff- but
only ediff.
Well ediff is more interactive and very nice, but if sometimes I open a
file .diff I would like to see it better.

For example I would also like to "fix" magit about that
- now even if I changed the faces for diff-mode it still shows me non colored
- I would like to see below my commit message the whole diff, so I don't
  have to manually expand the files to see again what was really modified

RE: diff-mode

[Drew Adams]

> > See also:
> > http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/DiffEnhancements
> > http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/diff%2b.el
> 
> Sorry but I don't see that much difference in diff+

Sorry, I meant diff-mode-.el, which does deal with highlighting (unlike
diff+.el).  The second link should have been this:
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/diff-mode-.el

If it helps, fine.  If not...

> My desire was to see the diff with the syntax
> highlighting of the original language, it it could be
> possible...

diff-mode-.el does not help with that.

For that, you will likely want to (a) visit the buffers/files in the proper mode
with font-locking, and then (b) copy text from there (with faces) to the diff
output buffer.  Or put the other way around: follow each diff from the `diff'
output buffer to a buffer for the original file and copy text (with faces) back
from there.

But that sounds onerous in terms of efficiency.  Remember that `diff' itself
runs and produces its output outside of Emacs.  You need not even be visiting
the diffed files within Emacs.

Why don't you just use `ediff'?  With `ediff' you see the files within Emacs,
font-locked.

Re: diff-mode

[Elena]

On Dec 12, 12:44 pm, Andrea Crotti <andrea.crott...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The other day I was preparing a talk with a collegue on revision
> control, and we've also show how to use basic diff and patch.
>
> Even if most of the work was done in emacs, we used vim to show the diff
> file, since it's much more colorful.
>
> Anyway after I solved customizing some faces
>
>  '(diff-added ((t (:inherit diff-changed :background "black" :foreground "Yellow"))))
>  '(diff-changed ((nil (:foreground "medium purple"))))
>  '(diff-header ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background dark)) (:background "grey22" :foreground "red" :height 1.2))))
>  '(diff-indicator-removed ((t (:inherit diff-removed))))
>  '(diff-removed ((t (:background "black" :foreground "indian red"))))
>
> Now it's even too much contrast :D
> But then I thought, wouldn't it be possible to show the normal syntax
> highlighting of the given mode and use some background/font style to
> differentiate what's to add/remove?

I think you would have to use overlays for that.  I don't know of any
diff-based package which does that.

Re: diff-mode

[Elena]

On Dec 12, 7:23 pm, Elena <egarr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 12, 12:44 pm, Andrea Crotti <andrea.crott...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > The other day I was preparing a talk with a collegue on revision
> > control, and we've also show how to use basic diff and patch.
>
> > Even if most of the work was done in emacs, we used vim to show the diff
> > file, since it's much more colorful.
>
> > Anyway after I solved customizing some faces
>
> >  '(diff-added ((t (:inherit diff-changed :background "black" :foreground "Yellow"))))
> >  '(diff-changed ((nil (:foreground "medium purple"))))
> >  '(diff-header ((((class color) (min-colors 88) (background dark)) (:background "grey22" :foreground "red" :height 1.2))))
> >  '(diff-indicator-removed ((t (:inherit diff-removed))))
> >  '(diff-removed ((t (:background "black" :foreground "indian red"))))
>
> > Now it's even too much contrast :D
> > But then I thought, wouldn't it be possible to show the normal syntax
> > highlighting of the given mode and use some background/font style to
> > differentiate what's to add/remove?
>
> I think you would have to use overlays for that.  I don't know of any
> diff-based package which does that.

According to Emacs Lisp Reference, text properties are better for this
kind of task:

http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/elisp/html_node/Text-Properties.html#Text-Properties

Re: diff-mode

[rusi]

On Dec 12, 11:02 pm, Andrea Crotti <andrea.crott...@gmail.com> wrote:
> rusi <rustompm...@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > Thanks Andrea for this... But its not diff-... out here but ediff-...
> > (I am on emacs 23.1.1)
>
> If I understand you correctly you mean that I should not use diff- but
> only ediff.
> Well ediff is more interactive and very nice, but if sometimes I open a
> file .diff I would like to see it better.

Well I was meaning that your face-names are wrong ie you need to say
ediff-added etc
But now I see I am wrong :-) If you load ediff-mode you get those if
you load diff mode you get those

Re: diff-mode

[Andrea Crotti]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>
> diff-mode-.el does not help with that.
>
> For that, you will likely want to (a) visit the buffers/files in the proper mode
> with font-locking, and then (b) copy text from there (with faces) to the diff
> output buffer.  Or put the other way around: follow each diff from the `diff'
> output buffer to a buffer for the original file and copy text (with faces) back
> from there.
>
> But that sounds onerous in terms of efficiency.  Remember that `diff' itself
> runs and produces its output outside of Emacs.  You need not even be visiting
> the diffed files within Emacs.
>
> Why don't you just use `ediff'?  With `ediff' you see the files within Emacs,
> font-locked.

Ediff is really nice, but it's a bit cumbersome.
I mean if I only want to see the diff and apply what I want how do I use
ediff?
ediff is very interactive and it makes a lot of color noise, moreover it
opens another small frame which on 
"GNU Emacs 23.2.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin10.3.0, NS apple-appkit-1038.29) of
2010-05-09 on linc"
I think is a bit buggy, since if I press "q" it doesn't disappear but I
have to close it manually.

As I discussed with a collegue, one of the problem of emacs are the
non-inviting defaults.

Since no long ago the transient-mark-mode was not enabled by default
(just an example).
I understand that it must be compatible from Dos to Solaris, but many
people try it, see that the defaults suck (from a normal user
perspective) and they abandon, which is a pity (or "natural selection" maybe).

But that's another topic...

RE: diff-mode

[Drew Adams]

> ediff is very interactive and it makes a lot of color noise, 
> moreover it opens another small frame which...
> I think is a bit buggy, since if I press "q" it doesn't 
> disappear but I have to close it manually.

M-x report-emacs-bug.  Typing `q' in the Ediff control buffer should always quit
Ediff (after you answer `y' to confirm).  If the Ediff control buffer is in its
own frame, then be sure that frame has the input focus when you type `q'.

If `q' doesn't work for you, please report it as a bug, providing a recipe that
starts with `emacs -Q'.

> As I discussed with a collegue, one of the problem of emacs are the
> non-inviting defaults. ...  But that's another topic...

Yes, it is.  And probably better for emacs-devel than for help-gnu-emacs.

Re: diff-mode

[Elena]

On Dec 13, 11:22 pm, Andrea Crotti <andrea.crott...@gmail.com> wrote:
> As I discussed with a collegue, one of the problem of emacs are the
> non-inviting defaults.

This is never going to be solved.  Emacs lacks the resources to pay
for a team dedicated to usability issues, more so if you think about
how many platforms it runs on.  Moreover, it is maintained by advanced
users, which are unlikely to understand the needs of beginners.

I applaud your effort to use Emacs for diffs.  I gave up very quickly
and to this day I still stick to WinMerge.

Re: diff-mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:22:36 +0100
> 
> Ediff is really nice, but it's a bit cumbersome.
> I mean if I only want to see the diff and apply what I want how do I use
> ediff?

"Tools->Apply patch" from the menu bar.  Is this what you want?

> ediff is very interactive and it makes a lot of color noise, moreover it
> opens another small frame which on 
> "GNU Emacs 23.2.1 (x86_64-apple-darwin10.3.0, NS apple-appkit-1038.29) of
> 2010-05-09 on linc"
> I think is a bit buggy, since if I press "q" it doesn't disappear but I
> have to close it manually.

When you press `q', Emacs asks a question.  You must answer `y' (yes)
to get the control frame close automatically.  Did you do that?

Re: diff-mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Elena <egarrulo@gmail.com>
> Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help
> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 00:43:10 -0800 (PST)
> 
> On Dec 13, 11:22 pm, Andrea Crotti <andrea.crott...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > As I discussed with a collegue, one of the problem of emacs are the
> > non-inviting defaults.
> 
> This is never going to be solved.  Emacs lacks the resources to pay
> for a team dedicated to usability issues, more so if you think about
> how many platforms it runs on.  Moreover, it is maintained by advanced
> users, which are unlikely to understand the needs of beginners.

That's not true.  Usability is quite high on the developers' agenda.
If you report usability problems as bugs, they will be handled.

> I applaud your effort to use Emacs for diffs.  I gave up very quickly
> and to this day I still stick to WinMerge.

Feel free to use LoseMerge, Ediff beats it any time with both hands
behind its back.  You gave up too quickly.

Re: diff-mode

[Leo]

On 2010-12-14 10:04 +0000, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>> ediff is very interactive and it makes a lot of color noise, moreover
>> it opens another small frame which on "GNU Emacs 23.2.1
>> (x86_64-apple-darwin10.3.0, NS apple-appkit-1038.29) of 2010-05-09 on
>> linc" I think is a bit buggy, since if I press "q" it doesn't
>> disappear but I have to close it manually.
>
> When you press `q', Emacs asks a question.  You must answer `y' (yes)
> to get the control frame close automatically.  Did you do that?

I think the default behaviour of opening up a small frame for the
control panel is annoying. It is probably the only package that does
that.

Leo

-- 
Oracle is the new evil

Re: diff-mode

[Leo]

On 2010-12-14 08:43 +0000, Elena wrote:
> This is never going to be solved. Emacs lacks the resources to pay for
> a team dedicated to usability issues, more so if you think about how
> many platforms it runs on. Moreover, it is maintained by advanced
> users, which are unlikely to understand the needs of beginners.

I was going to suggest people donate resources to help out. But I
checked the GNU website and it only allows donation to FSF not Emacs.

Leo

-- 
Oracle is the new evil

Re: diff-mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com>
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:13:07 +0000
> 
> I think the default behaviour of opening up a small frame for the
> control panel is annoying.

Every default will annoy someone.  Which is why you can customize
them; in this case, Ediff gives you the ediff-window-setup-function
option to do precisely that.

Re: diff-mode

[Elena]

On Dec 14, 10:11 am, Eli Zaretskii <e...@gnu.org> wrote:
> That's not true.  Usability is quite high on the developers' agenda.
> If you report usability problems as bugs, they will be handled.

I do not doubt it.  They just can't understand such issues however.
It's not their faults.  They are geeks, just like me and - I think -
you.  If we were them, we couldn't do any better.

Newbies flock to other editors because newbies find such editors
easier to use.  Geeks know such editors just seem easier, or are
easier just in the short run, and shrug their shoulders.

> > I applaud your effort to use Emacs for diffs.  I gave up very quickly
> > and to this day I still stick to WinMerge.
>
> Feel free to use LoseMerge, Ediff beats it any time with both hands
> behind its back.  You gave up too quickly.

I don't doubt it.  However, as many things Emacs, its interface seems
foreign.  I couldn't find a way to compare directories and have a
summary of changed files, from which navigate to such files.  If
someone could post a video about how to accomplish such a task with
Emacs...

Re: diff-mode

[Andrea Crotti]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>
> "Tools->Apply patch" from the menu bar.  Is this what you want?

Yes but well, something where I can read and analyze the diff before
patching one by one is better.
Diff-mode is perfectly fine, it would be perfect with a bit more
font-locking but that's already good like this...

>
> When you press `q', Emacs asks a question.  You must answer `y' (yes)
> to get the control frame close automatically.  Did you do that?

Yes sure I did, and in fact it quits, but the small window remain there
until I close it manually.
But now I tried with "Emacs -Q" and this works fine, so it's something
related to my configuration...

Re: diff-mode

[Mario Lassnig]

On 12/14/10 3:40 PM, Andrea Crotti wrote:
> Eli Zaretskii<eliz@gnu.org>  writes:
>>
>> "Tools->Apply patch" from the menu bar.  Is this what you want?
>
> Yes but well, something where I can read and analyze the diff before
> patching one by one is better.
> Diff-mode is perfectly fine, it would be perfect with a bit more
> font-locking but that's already good like this...
>
>>
>> When you press `q', Emacs asks a question.  You must answer `y' (yes)
>> to get the control frame close automatically.  Did you do that?
>
> Yes sure I did, and in fact it quits, but the small window remain there
> until I close it manually.
> But now I tried with "Emacs -Q" and this works fine, so it's something
> related to my configuration...
>
>


How about this? Side-by-side comparison, no external control frame,
and once you quit, it goes back to your previous visual configuration...




(setq ediff-window-setup-function 'ediff-setup-windows-plain)
(setq ediff-split-window-function 'split-window-horizontally)

(add-hook 'ediff-load-hook
           (lambda ()
             (add-hook 'ediff-before-setup-hook
                       (lambda ()
                         (setq ediff-saved-window-configuration 
(current-window-configuration))))
             (let ((restore-window-configuration
                    (lambda ()
                      (set-window-configuration 
ediff-saved-window-configuration))))
               (add-hook 'ediff-quit-hook restore-window-configuration 
'append)
               (add-hook 'ediff-suspend-hook 
restore-window-configuration 'append))))

(add-hook 'ediff-cleanup-hook
           (lambda ()
             (kill-buffer ediff-buffer-A)))

Re: diff-mode

[Andrea Crotti]

Elena <egarrulo@gmail.com> writes:

>
> I do not doubt it.  They just can't understand such issues however.
> It's not their faults.  They are geeks, just like me and - I think -
> you.  If we were them, we couldn't do any better.
>
> Newbies flock to other editors because newbies find such editors
> easier to use.  Geeks know such editors just seem easier, or are
> easier just in the short run, and shrug their shoulders.

I don't think it should look easy for newbies, but it surely look nice
and not too complex for already skilled programmers, that are maybe used
to vim or something like that.

It is much more powerful than all the others from my experience, but in
the first few months is really hard to get through and be really
productive with it...

>
> I don't doubt it.  However, as many things Emacs, its interface seems
> foreign.  I couldn't find a way to compare directories and have a
> summary of changed files, from which navigate to such files.  If
> someone could post a video about how to accomplish such a task with
> Emacs...

Well I'm not an expert but that seemed rather easy,
ediff-directories is not what you want?
It gives you a summary and then you can do many things from there...

Anyway the error I get when in my configuration I try to kill the ediff
session is

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
Quit this Ediff session & show containing session group? (y or n) 
ediff-cleanup-mess: Attempt to delete minibuffer or sole ordinary window
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Re: diff-mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:40:22 +0100
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
> >
> > "Tools->Apply patch" from the menu bar.  Is this what you want?
> 
> Yes but well, something where I can read and analyze the diff before
> patching one by one is better.

The command ediff-patch-file, which is run by that menu item, can take
the patch from a buffer (see its doc string for the details).  So you
could study the patch, and then apply it right from the buffer.

> But now I tried with "Emacs -Q" and this works fine, so it's something
> related to my configuration...

Yep, looks like that.

Re: diff-mode

[Elena]

On Dec 14, 2:57 pm, Andrea Crotti <andrea.crott...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Elena <egarr...@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > I do not doubt it.  They just can't understand such issues however.
> > It's not their faults.  They are geeks, just like me and - I think -
> > you.  If we were them, we couldn't do any better.
>
> > Newbies flock to other editors because newbies find such editors
> > easier to use.  Geeks know such editors just seem easier, or are
> > easier just in the short run, and shrug their shoulders.
>
> I don't think it should look easy for newbies, but it surely look nice
> and not too complex for already skilled programmers, that are maybe used
> to vim or something like that.
>
> It is much more powerful than all the others from my experience, but in
> the first few months is really hard to get through and be really
> productive with it...
>
>
>
> > I don't doubt it.  However, as many things Emacs, its interface seems
> > foreign.  I couldn't find a way to compare directories and have a
> > summary of changed files, from which navigate to such files.  If
> > someone could post a video about how to accomplish such a task with
> > Emacs...
>
> Well I'm not an expert but that seemed rather easy,
> ediff-directories is not what you want?
> It gives you a summary and then you can do many things from there...

Thank you for the tip.  However, ediff-directories requires you to
navigate directories looking for differences.  OTOH, WinMerge does
that automatically and shows you a colorized summary, from wich is
very easy to navigate from and to single files.  Here is a screenshot:
http://winmerge.org/about/screenshots/foldercmp.png

Way quicker.

>
> Anyway the error I get when in my configuration I try to kill the ediff
> session is
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> Quit this Ediff session & show containing session group? (y or n)
> ediff-cleanup-mess: Attempt to delete minibuffer or sole ordinary window
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I'm not experiencing this.

Re: diff-mode

[Richard Riley]

Elena <egarrulo@gmail.com> writes:

> On Dec 14, 10:11 am, Eli Zaretskii <e...@gnu.org> wrote:
>> That's not true.  Usability is quite high on the developers' agenda.
>> If you report usability problems as bugs, they will be handled.
>
> I do not doubt it.  They just can't understand such issues however.
> It's not their faults.  They are geeks, just like me and - I think -
> you.  If we were them, we couldn't do any better.
>
> Newbies flock to other editors because newbies find such editors
> easier to use.  Geeks know such editors just seem easier, or are
> easier just in the short run, and shrug their shoulders.
>
>> > I applaud your effort to use Emacs for diffs.  I gave up very quickly
>> > and to this day I still stick to WinMerge.
>>
>> Feel free to use LoseMerge, Ediff beats it any time with both hands
>> behind its back.  You gave up too quickly.
>
> I don't doubt it.  However, as many things Emacs, its interface seems
> foreign.  I couldn't find a way to compare directories and have a
> summary of changed files, from which navigate to such files.  If
> someone could post a video about how to accomplish such a task with
> Emacs...

Similarly with dired. The thing is that I generally find that at first I
hate why certain things are. It's only later that you realise, as you
become familiar with a tool, why its like that. And invariably there is
a good reason. This happens all the time in Emacs. Unfortunately I
believe thats the wrong way to build SW if you have any interest in
attracting new users : better, in that case, to default for "nOOb
morons" (and I include myself in that ;)) and let the power users
customise as they see fit. The reluctance to CUA by default would be one
such an example or the reluctance to turn on the X clipboard by
default. At least one of which has now changed I believe.

Re: diff-mode

[Richard Riley]

Andrea Crotti <andrea.crotti.0@gmail.com> writes:

> Elena <egarrulo@gmail.com> writes:
>
>>
>> I do not doubt it.  They just can't understand such issues however.
>> It's not their faults.  They are geeks, just like me and - I think -
>> you.  If we were them, we couldn't do any better.
>>
>> Newbies flock to other editors because newbies find such editors
>> easier to use.  Geeks know such editors just seem easier, or are
>> easier just in the short run, and shrug their shoulders.
>
> I don't think it should look easy for newbies, but it surely look nice
> and not too complex for already skilled programmers, that are maybe used
> to vim or something like that.

Skilled programmers can still be Emacs noobies.

RE: diff-mode

[Drew Adams]

> Anyway the error I get when in my configuration I try to kill 
> the ediff session is
> 
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> Quit this Ediff session & show containing session group? (y or n) 
> ediff-cleanup-mess: Attempt to delete minibuffer or sole 
> ordinary window
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Great.  Now you can report a bug: `M-x report-emacs-bug'.  

First: Load library `ediff-util.el' (the library where `ediff-cleanup-mess' is
defined.  Be sure to include the ".el" here, so you don't just load the
byte-compiled file.

Second: `M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET', to show a backtrace
when the error is raised.  Include the backtrace in your bug report.


_If_ you want to dig further to help find the problem, you can try to follow
function `ediff-cleanup-mess' in the debugger:

M-x debug-on-entry RET ediff-cleanup-mess RET

When you try to quit `ediff', the debugger will open when `ediff-cleanup-mess'
is invoked.  Use `d' to step through the debugger (or `c' to skip through a
step).  You can add any info you learn this way to your bug report.  (You can
use command `cancel-debug-on-entry' to cancel `debug-on-entry'.)

Essentially, the problem here is that there is only one window in the Ediff
control frame, and Emacs tries to delete that lone window, which is a no-no.
What Emacs should be doing here (probably) is to delete the frame.  Instead, it
thinks you want to keep the frame and it complains that it cannot delete the
last window in the frame.  IMO, this is a bug.

Re: diff-mode

[Andrea Crotti]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>> Anyway the error I get when in my configuration I try to kill 
>> the ediff session is
>> 
>> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
>> Quit this Ediff session & show containing session group? (y or n) 
>> ediff-cleanup-mess: Attempt to delete minibuffer or sole 
>> ordinary window
>> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
> Great.  Now you can report a bug: `M-x report-emacs-bug'.  
>
> First: Load library `ediff-util.el' (the library where `ediff-cleanup-mess' is
> defined.  Be sure to include the ".el" here, so you don't just load the
> byte-compiled file.
>
> Second: `M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t RET', to show a backtrace
> when the error is raised.  Include the backtrace in your bug report.
>
>
> _If_ you want to dig further to help find the problem, you can try to follow
> function `ediff-cleanup-mess' in the debugger:
>
> M-x debug-on-entry RET ediff-cleanup-mess RET
>
> When you try to quit `ediff', the debugger will open when `ediff-cleanup-mess'
> is invoked.  Use `d' to step through the debugger (or `c' to skip through a
> step).  You can add any info you learn this way to your bug report.  (You can
> use command `cancel-debug-on-entry' to cancel `debug-on-entry'.)
>
> Essentially, the problem here is that there is only one window in the Ediff
> control frame, and Emacs tries to delete that lone window, which is a no-no.
> What Emacs should be doing here (probably) is to delete the frame.  Instead, it
> thinks you want to keep the frame and it complains that it cannot delete the
> last window in the frame.  IMO, this is a bug.

Ok thanks a lot I'll do it.
BUT I only experience this with my configuratio as I said.
If I do Emacs -Q I don't have this problem, so I'm not 100% sure that I
should send a bug report until I didn't find the source...

RE: diff-mode

[Drew Adams]

> Ok thanks a lot I'll do it.
> BUT I only experience this with my configuratio as I said.
> If I do Emacs -Q I don't have this problem, so I'm not 100% 
> sure that I should send a bug report until I didn't find the source...

You can provide info on your configuration in the bug report. Of course, if you
can narrow it down to a small part of your configuration, that will help.

Look for things in your config such as non-nil `pop-up-frames'.  Look for
whatever you think you might have done that causes Ediff to use a separate frame
for its control window.

The general rule for narrowing down your config to find a problem cause is to
use binary search: remove/comment-out half of your init file, then 3/4, then
7/8,... until you find the part that provokes the error.  Binary search is very
quick.

Re: diff-mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Elena <egarrulo@gmail.com>
> Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help
> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 07:35:14 -0800 (PST)
> 
> > Well I'm not an expert but that seemed rather easy,
> > ediff-directories is not what you want?
> > It gives you a summary and then you can do many things from there...
> 
> Thank you for the tip.  However, ediff-directories requires you to
> navigate directories looking for differences.  OTOH, WinMerge does
> that automatically and shows you a colorized summary, from wich is
> very easy to navigate from and to single files.  Here is a screenshot:
> http://winmerge.org/about/screenshots/foldercmp.png

She said "you can do many things from there".  Did you try? did you
try to type `?' and read the short descriptions of the available
commands?  You could, for example, try "==".

Re: diff-mode

[Elena]

On Dec 14, 4:07 pm, Eli Zaretskii <e...@gnu.org> wrote:
> > From: Elena <egarr...@gmail.com>
> > Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help
> > Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 07:35:14 -0800 (PST)
>
> > > Well I'm not an expert but that seemed rather easy,
> > > ediff-directories is not what you want?
> > > It gives you a summary and then you can do many things from there...
>
> > Thank you for the tip.  However, ediff-directories requires you to
> > navigate directories looking for differences.  OTOH, WinMerge does
> > that automatically and shows you a colorized summary, from wich is
> > very easy to navigate from and to single files.  Here is a screenshot:
> >http://winmerge.org/about/screenshots/foldercmp.png
>
> She said "you can do many things from there".  Did you try? did you
> try to type `?' and read the short descriptions of the available
> commands?  You could, for example, try "==".

Thank you for the tip.  Of course I tried and missed "==" because
"Useful commands:" described it as "for each session, show which files
are identical".  Since I was looking for different files, I tried "D"
instead ("show differences among directories").  However, "==" still
requires you to navigate through directories.  This is grunt work and
is no match for WinMerge's summary.

Re: diff-mode

[Andrea Crotti]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> She said "you can do many things from there".  Did you try? did you
> try to type `?' and read the short descriptions of the available
> commands?  You could, for example, try "==".

And, for example, some simple colors would also make ediff-directories
look much nicer.
In this case however I didn't find any face to customize (am I wrong).

Sometimes people choose things just because they look better, even if
sometimes they're not at all the best tools...

Re: diff-mode

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Elena <egarrulo@gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:22:40 -0800 (PST)
> 
> However, "==" still requires you to navigate through directories.

No, it doesn't.

Re: diff-mode

[Elena]

On Dec 14, 7:51 pm, Eli Zaretskii <e...@gnu.org> wrote:
> > From: Elena <egarr...@gmail.com>
> > Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:22:40 -0800 (PST)
>
> > However, "==" still requires you to navigate through directories.
>
> No, it doesn't.

This shows Ediff's unfriendliness: I tried it and couldn't figure it
out.

Re: diff-mode

[Stefan Monnier]

> But then I thought, wouldn't it be possible to show the normal syntax
> highlighting of the given mode and use some background/font style to
> differentiate what's to add/remove?

That would be neat, yes.  Making it work reliably might be difficult,
but a first shot might not be that hard.
Some of the problems:
- the code chunk might be difficult to analyze correctly without its
  context (e.g. the code chunk may start in the middle of
  a comment/string/...).
- for people using the default font-lock settings, it might be difficult
  to find a set of background colors to use for added/removed/changed
  that doesn't make some of the text hard to read.  For people using
  font-lock settings like mine (i.e. mostly all black-on-white, where
  most faces changes the bold/italics rather than the color) OTOH it
  would work fine.  Note that smerge-mode already works similarly, so
  it's not a new problem.


        Stefan

Re: diff-mode

[José A. Romero L.]

On 14 Gru, 14:40, Elena <egarr...@gmail.com> wrote:
(...)
> I don't doubt it.  However, as many things Emacs, its interface seems
> foreign.  I couldn't find a way to compare directories and have a
> summary of changed files, from which navigate to such files.  If
(...)

As Andrea already pointed out there's ediff-directories, but I've
always found it terribly counter-intuitive. That was actually one of
the reasons that pushed me to write the Sunrise Commander:

    http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Sunrise_Commander

If comparing files and directories is as important to your work as it
is for mine, give it a try:

0) Install Sunrise
1) cd to the directories to compare (in left and right panes)
2) press C-M-=
3) press one of d, s, a, n or c to compare by Date, Size, date And
size or file Contents
4) use = to run diff or C-= to run ediff on the files marked.

This facility is not limited to comparing two directories in the file
system, it actually compares whatever left and right panes contain at
the moment it's invoked: e.g. the results of find/locate operations,
contents of compressed archives, etc.

Cheers,
--
José A. Romero L.
escherdragon at gmail
"We who cut mere stones must always be envisioning cathedrals."
(Quarry worker's creed)

Re: diff-mode

[Elena]

On Dec 15, 2:12 pm, José A. Romero L. <escherdra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 14 Gru, 14:40, Elena <egarr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> (...)> I don't doubt it.  However, as many things Emacs, its interface seems
> > foreign.  I couldn't find a way to compare directories and have a
> > summary of changed files, from which navigate to such files.  If
>
> (...)
>
> As Andrea already pointed out there's ediff-directories, but I've
> always found it terribly counter-intuitive. That was actually one of
> the reasons that pushed me to write the Sunrise Commander:
>
>    http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Sunrise_Commander
>
> If comparing files and directories is as important to your work as it
> is for mine, give it a try:
>
> 0) Install Sunrise
> 1) cd to the directories to compare (in left and right panes)
> 2) press C-M-=
> 3) press one of d, s, a, n or c to compare by Date, Size, date And
> size or file Contents
> 4) use = to run diff or C-= to run ediff on the files marked.
>
> This facility is not limited to comparing two directories in the file
> system, it actually compares whatever left and right panes contain at
> the moment it's invoked: e.g. the results of find/locate operations,
> contents of compressed archives, etc.

What a nifty package!  Very intuitive (at least from my background).
Congratulations.  I will be checking it out.

I've tried the procedure you've suggested, but it doesn't run a
recursive comparison, which is what I'm after.  Thank you anyway.

Re: diff-mode

[José A. Romero L.]

On 15 Gru, 16:00, Elena <egarr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 15, 2:12 pm, José A. Romero L. <escherdra...@gmail.com> wrote:
(...)
> > 0) Install Sunrise
> > 1) cd to the directories to compare (in left and right panes)
> > 2) press C-M-=
> > 3) press one of d, s, a, n or c to compare by Date, Size, date And
> > size or file Contents
> > 4) use = to run diff or C-= to run ediff on the files marked.
(...)
> I've tried the procedure you've suggested, but it doesn't run a
> recursive comparison, which is what I'm after.  Thank you anyway.

To make a recursive comparison in Sunrise you first need to "flatten"
the tree:

1.1) press C-c C-n to bring up find by name
1.2) type in "*" (a single asterisk) and press Return

this will recursively display all the contents of the current
directory, including all sub-directories. Alternatively:

1.1) press C-c C-f to bring up find with args
1.2) type in "-not -type d" and press Return

this will recursively display everything that is *not* a
directory. There are many other ways to flatten the tree, so the pane
shows exactly what you're interested in - after that's done you can
perform your comparison.

P.S. Press C-c C-c to return to normal mode ;)

Cheers,
--
José Alfredo Romero L. | Software Architect
StepStone Solutions  | CBL ul. Lubicz 23 | 31-503 Kraków | Poland
jose.romero@stepstonesolutions.com

Re: diff-mode

[José A. Romero L.]

On 15 Gru, 16:00, Elena <egarr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 15, 2:12 pm, José A. Romero L. <escherdra...@gmail.com> wrote:
(...)
> > 0) Install Sunrise
> > 1) cd to the directories to compare (in left and right panes)
> > 2) press C-M-=
> > 3) press one of d, s, a, n or c to compare by Date, Size, date And
> > size or file Contents
> > 4) use = to run diff or C-= to run ediff on the files marked.
(...)
> I've tried the procedure you've suggested, but it doesn't run a
> recursive comparison, which is what I'm after.  Thank you anyway.

To perform recursive comparisons with Sunrise you need first to
"flatten the tree":

1.1) press C-c C-n to bring up find by name,
1.2) type in "*" (a single asterisk) and press Return

this will display recursively all the contents of the current
directory, including sub-directories. Alternatively:

1.1) press C-c C-f to bring up find with args,
1.2) type in "-not -type d" and press Return

this will recursively display everything that is *not* a directory
inside the current one. There are many ways to flatten the tree in
order to make the pane contain exactly what you're interested
in. Once that's done you can perform your recursive comparison.

Cheers,
--
José A. Romero L.
escherdragon at gmail
"We who cut mere stones must always be envisioning cathedrals."
(Quarry worker's creed)

Re: diff-mode

[José A. Romero L.]

On 15 Gru, 16:00, Elena <egarr...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Dec 15, 2:12 pm, José A. Romero L. <escherdra...@gmail.com> wrote:
(...)
> > 0) Install Sunrise
> > 1) cd to the directories to compare (in left and right panes)
> > 2) press C-M-=
> > 3) press one of d, s, a, n or c to compare by Date, Size, date And
> > size or file Contents
> > 4) use = to run diff or C-= to run ediff on the files marked.
(...)
> I've tried the procedure you've suggested, but it doesn't run a
> recursive comparison, which is what I'm after.  Thank you anyway.

To perform recursive comparisons with Sunrise you need first to
"flatten the tree":

1.1) press C-c C-n to bring up find by name,
1.2) type in "*" (a single asterisk) and press Return

this will display recursively all the contents of the current
directory, including sub-directories. Alternatively:

1.1) press C-c C-f to bring up find with args,
1.2) type in "-not -type d" and press Return

this will recursively display everything that is *not* a directory
inside the current one. There are many ways to flatten the tree in
order to make the pane contain exactly what you're interested
in. Once that's done you can perform your recursive comparison.

P.S. Press C-c C-c to return to normal mode ;)

Cheers,
--
José A. Romero L.
escherdragon at gmail
"We who cut mere stones must always be envisioning cathedrals."
(Quarry worker's creed)