Re: Newbie question re ediff

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2007 08:26:45 -0800 (PST)
> From: mkeller <mckellercran@gmail.com>
> Cc: 
> 
> > Is C:\Program Files\GnuWin32 in your PATH environment variable?  The
> > simplest thing would be to add it, so that you can run diff (and any
> > other GnuWin32 programs you install) via M-! and M-|.  Your other option
> > is to set the Emacs ediff-diff-program variable to the absolute path
> > to the diff executable.
> 
> Kevin - thanks for the advice, but still over my head. How precisely do I
> set my PATH environment variable?

Well, if you don't know even such simple things about Windows, please
be sure to tell in advance.

> Is this done in the _emacs file? If so, what syntax do I use? (I tried
> several, all wrong).
> Is it done under Windows' System -> Advanced -> Environment Variables?

It's best to do this from System -> Advanced.

> (Tried this too, also not working).

Did you restart Emacs after changing Path?  If not, you need to.

If that doesn't help, open a CMD window (type "cmd" into Start->Run
dialog, then hit [Enter]), type "set Path" there, and show us what it
produces.

> I'm close to giving up on using diff. If I can't get the PATH thing to work,
> I'll download the UNIX tools as suggested above. If still no go, I give up.

Don't give up, it must be something simple.

> But, wow, emacs can be frustrating! I do appreciate the help though.

This has nothing to do with Emacs, it's about how to install programs
on Windows and let other programs use them.