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<html><head><title>Chapter 1. Introduction</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="help:/common/kde-default.css" type="text/css"><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.67.2"><meta name="keywords" content="KDE, kdeextragear, kdiff3, diff, merge, CVS, triplediff, compare, files, directories, version control, three-way-merge, in-line-differences, synchronise, kpart, kio, networktransparent, editor, white space, comments"><link rel="start" href="index.html" title="The KDiff3 Handbook"><link rel="up" href="index.html" title="The KDiff3 Handbook"><link rel="prev" href="index.html" title="The KDiff3 Handbook"><link rel="next" href="screenshots.html" title="Screenshots and Features"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><meta name="GENERATOR" content="KDE XSL Stylesheet V1.13 using libxslt"></head><body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div style="background-image: url(help:/common/top-middle.png); width: 100%; height: 131px;"><div style="position: absolute; right: 0px;"><img src="help:/common/top-right-konqueror.png" style="margin: 0px" alt=""></div><div style="position: absolute; top: 25px; right: 100px; text-align: right; font-size: xx-large; font-weight: bold; text-shadow: #fff 0px 0px 5px; color: #444">Introduction</div></div><div style="margin-top: 20px; background-color: #white; color: black; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;"><div style="position: absolute; left: 20px;"><a accesskey="p" href="index.html">Prev</a></div><div style="position: absolute; right: 20px;"><a accesskey="n" href="screenshots.html">Next</a></div><div class="navCenter"> </div></div><div class="chapter" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a name="introduction"></a>Chapter 1. Introduction</h2></div></div></div><div class="sect1" lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a name="why"></a>Yet Another Diff Frontend?</h2></div></div></div><p>
Several graphical diff tools exist. Why choose <span class="application">KDiff3</span>? Let me say, why I wrote it.
</p><p>
<span class="application">KDiff3</span> started because I had to do a difficult merge. Merging is necessary when several
people work on the same files in a project. A merge can be somewhat automated, when the
merge-tool not only has the new modified files (called "branches"), but also the original file
(called "base"). The merge tool will automatically choose any modification that was only
done in one branch. When several contributors change the same lines, then the merge tool
detects a conflict which must be solved manually.
</p><p>
The merge then was difficult because one contributor had changed many things and corrected
the indentation in many places. Another contributor also had changed much text in the same file,
which resulted in several merge conflicts.
</p><p>
The tool I used then, only showed the changed lines, but not what had changed within these
lines. And there was no information about where only the indentation was changed. The merge
was a little nightmare.
</p><p>
So this was the start. The first version could show differences within a line and showed white space differences.
Later many other features were added to increase the usefulness.
</p><p>
For example if you want to compare some text quickly, then you can copy it to the clipboard and
paste it into either diff window.
</p><p>
A feature that required a big effort was the directory comparison and merge facility, which turned
the program almost into a full file browser.
</p><p>
I hope <span class="application">KDiff3</span> works for you too. Have fun!
</p><p>
Joachim Eibl (2003)
</p></div></div><div style="background-color: #white; color: black; margin-top: 20px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;"><div style="position: absolute; left: 20px;"><a accesskey="p" href="index.html">Prev</a></div><div style="position: absolute; right: 20px;"><a accesskey="n" href="screenshots.html">Next</a></div><div align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></div></div><div style="background-color: #white; color: black; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px;"><div class="navLeft">The <span class="application">KDiff3</span> Handbook </div><div class="navRight"> Screenshots and Features</div><div class="navCenter"><a accesskey="u" href="index.html">Up</a></div></div><br><br><div class="bannerBottom" style="background-image: url(help:/common/bottom-middle.png); background-repeat: x-repeat; width: 100%; height: 100px; bottom:0px;"><div class="BannerBottomRight"><img src="help:/common/bottom-right.png" style="margin: 0px" alt=""></div><div class="bannerBottomLeft"><img src="help:/common/bottom-left.png" style="margin: 0px;" alt=""></div><div id="comments" style="position:relative; top: 5px; left: 1em; height:85px; width: 50%; color: #cfe1f6"><p>Would you like to make a comment or contribute an update to this page?<br>
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