Arch Linux

strake

Member

Registered: 2011-05-30

Posts: 6

Website

pacmerge -- merge .pacnew files

pacmerge is a simple (80-line) program to interactively merge .pacnew files with sdiff.

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=52485

Why another such program? For two main reasons:
1. Most others use the wronganother program to merge (e.g. vimdiff, kdiff (eww), &c.), which is difficult to change
2. Haskell is nicer than bash

Last edited by strake (2011-11-26 18:27:40)

bernarcher

Forum Fellow

From: Germany

Registered: 2009-02-17

Posts: 2,281

Re: pacmerge -- merge .pacnew files

I appreciate your efforts. But I don't get the significance of your first point.
Why is e.g. vimdiff the wrong program to merge pacnew files?

Well, I use it all the time, just because it is the easiest way for me to keep the context of the changes in view. (And of course because I am accustomed to Vim at all.)

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karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: pacmerge -- merge .pacnew files

1. AUR uses https so please use https links.
2. Please add a description to your AUR package.
3. I like vimdiff and I'm unlikely to switch to something using
4. Haskel ... (just because ghc is huuuge ;P ).

WorMzy

Administrator

From: Scotland

Registered: 2010-06-16

Posts: 12,600

Website

Re: pacmerge -- merge .pacnew files

yaourt's pacdiffviewer+vimdiff works great for me.

As a prospective user, I don't see why should I use this. Like Bernarcher said, why is vimdiff "wrong"? Do you have a different idea of what "merge" is, compared to the traditional method of seeing the differences between the two files and making whatever changes are necessary to make the old config file up-to-date, or tweak the new config file to suit your needs?

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strake

Member

Registered: 2011-05-30

Posts: 6

Website

Re: pacmerge -- merge .pacnew files

Why is e.g. vimdiff the wrong program to merge pacnew files?

why is vimdiff "wrong"?

That wasn't meant seriously. Unfortunately, this is a limited medium.
Modified

1. AUR uses https so please use https links.
2. Please add a description to your AUR package.

Sorry. Done.

doublerebel

Member

Registered: 2010-02-04

Posts: 6

Re: pacmerge -- merge .pacnew files

The concept here is great, and I was stoked to try it out.  I don't care for the obtuse UI of vimdiff, there should be an easier way to merge .pacnew files.  However, I'm not sure this package is 'easier' since pacmerge depends on another AUR package, haskell-directory-tree, which depends on ghc -- a 60MB download and 530MB installation.

Compile this into more of a standalone package and it will be an awesome tool!

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: pacmerge -- merge .pacnew files

I don't care for the obtuse UI of vimdiff

Use can use regular diff if you want.
Or e.g. meld.

doublerebel

Member

Registered: 2010-02-04

Posts: 6

Re: pacmerge -- merge .pacnew files

I don't care for the obtuse UI of vimdiff

Use can use regular diff if you want.
Or e.g. meld.

I am aware of the other suggested options, I'm not as noob as my post count appears.  Diff does not merge files.  Copy and paste between files in a terminal while referencing the diff is not a simple task.  Meld is GUI-only.

There is definitely a place for a simple CLI .pacnew interactive merge tool. Diffpac/pacdiffviewer is close, but without documentation and also uses vimdiff -- although at least Diffpac has almost no dependencies.

Most of the .pacnew configuration updates are trivial (thanks to Arch's clean structure and upgrade process), and therefore merging should be trivial as well.  .pacnew merging is a bump in Arch's otherwise smooth rolling upgrades.

strake

Member

Registered: 2011-05-30

Posts: 6

Website

Re: pacmerge -- merge .pacnew files

Everyone ought to have ghc anyhow ^_^

I made a binary package (x86_64):

https://sites.google.com/site/strake888 … tar.xz?d=1

I know not whether this will actually work, but anyhow, there it is.

Sorry for not having done earlier; I quite forgot.