User-visible changes in version 2.8.1:* Documentation fixes.User-visible changes in version 2.8:* cmp and diff now conform to POSIX 1003.1-2001 (IEEE Std 1003.1-2001)if the underlying system conforms to POSIX and if the _POSIX2_VERSIONenvironment variable is set to 200112. Conformance removes supportfor `diff -NUM', where NUM is a number. Use -C NUM or -U NUM instead.* cmp now supports trailing operands SKIP1 and SKIP2, like BSD cmp.* cmp -i or --ignore-initial now accepts SKIP1:SKIP2 option value.* New cmp option: -n or --bytes.* cmp's old -c or --print-chars option has been renamed;use -b or --print-bytes instead.* cmp now outputs "byte" rather than "char" outside the POSIX locale.* cmp -l's index column width now adjusts to fit larger (or smaller) files.* cmp -l -s and cmp -s -l are not allowed. Use cmp -s or cmp -l instead.* diff uses ISO 8601 style time stamps for output times (e.g. "2001-11-2316:44:36.875702460 -0800") unless in the C or POSIX locale and the-c style is specified.* diff's -I and -F options use the regexp syntax of grep, not of Emacs.* diff now accepts multiple context arguments, and uses their maximum value.* New diff and sdiff options:-E --ignore-tab-expansion--strip-trailing-cr* New diff options:--from-file=FILE, --to-file=FILE--ignore-file-name-case--no-ignore-file-name-case* New diff3 and sdiff option:--diff-program=PROGRAM* The following diff options are still accepted, but are no longer documented.They may be withdrawn in future releases.-h (omit; it has no effect)-H (use --speed-large-files instead)-L (use --label instead)-P (use --unidirectional-new-file instead)--inhibit-hunk-merge (omit; it has no effect)* Recursive diffs now sort file names according to the LC_COLLATE localecategory if possible, instead of using native byte comparison.* Diff printf specs can now use the "0" and "'" flags.* The new sdiff interactive command `ed' precedes each version with a header.* On 64-bit hosts, files larger than 2 GB can be compared.* Some internationalization support has been added, but multibyte localesare still not completely supported yet.* Some diagnostics have been reworded slightly for consistency.Also, `diff -D FOO' now outputs `/* ! FOO */' instead of `/* not FOO */'.* The `patch' part of the manual now describes `patch' version 2.5.4.* Man pages are now distributed and installed.* There is support for DJGPP; see the 'ms' subdirectory and the filesm4/dos.m4 and */setmode.*.User-visible changes in version 2.7:* New diff option: --binary (useful only on non-POSIX hosts)* diff -b and -w now ignore line incompleteness; -B no longer does this.* cmp -c now uses locale to decide which output characters to quote.* Help and version messages are reorganized.User-visible changes in version 2.6:* New cmp, diff, diff3, sdiff option: --help* A new heuristic for diff greatly reduces the time needed to comparelarge input files that contain many differences.* Partly as a result, GNU diff's output is not exactly the same as before.Usually it is a bit smaller, but sometimes it is a bit larger.User-visible changes in version 2.5:* New cmp option: -v --versionUser-visible changes in version 2.4:* New cmp option: --ignore-initial=BYTES* New diff3 option: -T --initial-tab* New diff option: --line-format=FORMAT* New diff group format specifications:<PRINTF_SPEC>[eflmnEFLMN]A printf spec followed by one of the following letterscauses the integer corresponding to that letter to beprinted according to the printf specification.E.g. `%5df' prints the number of the first line in thegroup in the old file using the "%5d" format.e: line number just before the group in old file; equals f - 1f: first line number in group in the old filel: last line number in group in the old filem: line number just after the group in old file; equals l + 1n: number of lines in group in the old file; equals l - f + 1E, F, L, M, N: likewise, for lines in the new file%(A=B?T:E)If A equals B then T else E. A and B are each either a decimalconstant or a single letter interpreted as above. T and E arearbitrary format strings. This format spec is equivalent to T ifA's value equals B's; otherwise it is equivalent to E. Forexample, `%(N=0?no:%dN) line%(N=1?:s)' is equivalent to `no lines'if N (the number of lines in the group in the the new file) is 0,to `1 line' if N is 1, and to `%dN lines' otherwise.%c'C'where C is a single character, stands for the character C. C may notbe a backslash or an apostrophe. E.g. %c':' stands for a colon.%c'\O'where O is a string of 1, 2, or 3 octal digits, stands for thecharacter with octal code O. E.g. %c'\0' stands for a null character.* New diff line format specifications:<PRINTF_SPEC>nThe line number, printed with <PRINTF_SPEC>.E.g. `%5dn' prints the line number with a "%5d" format.%c'C'%c'\O'The character C, or with octal code O, as above.* Supported <PRINTF_SPEC>s have the same meaning as with printf, but mustmatch the extended regular expression %-*[0-9]*(\.[0-9]*)?[doxX].* The format spec %0 introduced in version 2.1 has been removed, since itis incompatible with printf specs like %02d. To represent a null char,use %c'\0' instead.* cmp and diff now conform to POSIX 1003.2-1992 (ISO/IEC 9945-2:1993)if the underlying system conforms to POSIX:- Some messages' wordings are changed in minor ways.- ``White space'' is now whatever C's `isspace' says it is.- When comparing directories, if `diff' finds a file that is not a regularfile or a directory, it reports the file's type instead of diffing it.(As usual, it follows symbolic links first.)- When signaled, sdiff exits with the signal's status, not with status 2.* Now portable to hosts where int, long, pointer, etc. are not all the samesize.* `cmp - -' now works like `diff - -'.User-visible changes in version 2.3:* New diff option: --horizon-lines=linesUser-visible changes in version 2.1:* New diff options:--{old,new,unchanged}-line-format='format'--{old,new,unchanged,changed}-group-format='format'-U* New diff3 option:-A --show-all* diff3 -m now defaults to -A, not -E.* diff3 now takes up to three -L or --label options, not just two.If just two options are given, they refer to the first two input files,not the first and third input files.* sdiff and diff -y handle incomplete lines.User-visible changes in version 2.0:* Add sdiff and cmp programs.* Add Texinfo documentation.* Add configure script.* Improve diff performance.* New diff options:-x --exclude-X --exclude-from-P --unidirectional-new-file-W --width-y --side-by-side--left-column--sdiff-merge-assist--suppress-common-lines* diff options renamed:--label renamed from --file-label--forward-ed renamed from --reversed-ed--paginate renamed from --print--entire-new-file renamed from --entire-new-files--new-file renamed from --new-files--all-text removed* New diff3 options:-v --version* Add long-named equivalents for other diff3 options.* diff options -F (--show-function-line) and -I (--ignore-matching-lines)can now be given more than once.Copyright (C) 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2002 Free Software Foundation,Inc.This file is part of GNU Diffutils.This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modifyit under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published bythe Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)any later version.This program is distributed in the hope that they will be useful,but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty ofMERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See theGNU General Public License for more details.You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public Licensealong with this program; see the file COPYING. If not, write tothe Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330,Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.