{"thread":{"id":"59056","subject":"How to debug \"fatal: external diff died, stopping at ...\"?","startedAt":"2023-01-09T13:37:59Z","lastAt":"2023-01-09T20:22:06Z","messageCount":3,"participants":["Sebastian Schuberth","Jeff Hostetler"],"isPatch":false,"patchVersion":null,"patchTotal":null},"messages":[{"id":"469972","messageId":"CAHGBnuOcNb0niPThM9gtmoJui+bz1mmhKXjUn71P3Q53aM-HLA@mail.gmail.com","threadId":"59056","inReplyTo":null,"subject":"How to debug \"fatal: external diff died, stopping at ...\"?","fromName":"Sebastian Schuberth","fromEmail":"sschuberth@gmail.com","sentAt":"2023-01-09T13:35:05Z","receivedAt":"2023-01-09T13:37:59Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"sschuberth@gmail.com","avatar":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/349154?v=4"},"body":"Hi,\n\nsimilar to this [1] question on StackOverflow, ever since a\ndistribution upgrade of my Fedora Linux box (KDE spin, now on release\n37), my configured diff / merge tool (Beyond Compare 4) crashes with\n\"fatal: external diff died, stopping at ...\" after displaying the diff\nfor the first file, for every operation I've tried so far (including\nresolving merge conflicts). I've also posted to the Beyond Compare\nforums [2], but the people from Scooter Software seem to be clueless\nas well.\n\nWould anyone have an idea how to debug this?\n\nPS: I also tried to use an X11 instead of a Wayland session with KDE /\nPlasma, but that did not help.\n\n[1]: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1437667/git-difftool-with-meld-broken-after-update-to-22-04-fatal-external-diff-died\n[2]: https://forum.scootersoftware.com/forum/beyond-compare-4-discussion/linux-aa/88824-bc4-as-a-git-merge-tool-says-fatal-external-diff-died\n\n-- \nSebastian Schuberth\n"},{"id":"470007","messageId":"18a11fc5-ab72-a66a-6bef-7e460c762a9c@jeffhostetler.com","threadId":"59056","inReplyTo":"CAHGBnuOcNb0niPThM9gtmoJui+bz1mmhKXjUn71P3Q53aM-HLA@mail.gmail.com","subject":"Re: How to debug \"fatal: external diff died, stopping at ...\"?","fromName":"Jeff Hostetler","fromEmail":"git@jeffhostetler.com","sentAt":"2023-01-09T20:07:46Z","receivedAt":"2023-01-09T20:07:55Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"git@jeffhostetler.com","avatar":null},"body":"\n\nOn 1/9/23 8:35 AM, Sebastian Schuberth wrote:\n> Hi,\n> \n> similar to this [1] question on StackOverflow, ever since a\n> distribution upgrade of my Fedora Linux box (KDE spin, now on release\n> 37), my configured diff / merge tool (Beyond Compare 4) crashes with\n> \"fatal: external diff died, stopping at ...\" after displaying the diff\n> for the first file, for every operation I've tried so far (including\n> resolving merge conflicts). I've also posted to the Beyond Compare\n> forums [2], but the people from Scooter Software seem to be clueless\n> as well.\n> \n> Would anyone have an idea how to debug this?\n> \n> PS: I also tried to use an X11 instead of a Wayland session with KDE /\n> Plasma, but that did not help.\n> \n> [1]: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1437667/git-difftool-with-meld-broken-after-update-to-22-04-fatal-external-diff-died\n> [2]: https://forum.scootersoftware.com/forum/beyond-compare-4-discussion/linux-aa/88824-bc4-as-a-git-merge-tool-says-fatal-external-diff-died\n> \n\nYou might try turning on Trace2 in Git and see if there is\nany extra info there on the child processes.\n\n$ GIT_TRACE2_PERF=1 git difftool ...\n\nor\n\n$ export GIT_TRACE2_PERF=/absolute/path/to/logfile\n$ git difftool ...\n\nThere you'll be able to see all of the \"child_start\" and\n\"child_exit\" events for each process that Git starts (at\nthe \"d1\" level (and grandchildren at the \"d2\" level)).\n\nMaybe that'll reveal something.\n\nhttps://devblogs.microsoft.com/devops/a-deep-dive-into-git-performance-using-trace2/\n\n\nHope this helps,\nJeff\n"},{"id":"470009","messageId":"CAHGBnuMCBHME6jO9F+tU0sLHTTt+Rtp3ktGyYi2GHQHab+56ZA@mail.gmail.com","threadId":"59056","inReplyTo":"18a11fc5-ab72-a66a-6bef-7e460c762a9c@jeffhostetler.com","subject":"Re: How to debug \"fatal: external diff died, stopping at ...\"?","fromName":"Sebastian Schuberth","fromEmail":"sschuberth@gmail.com","sentAt":"2023-01-09T20:21:44Z","receivedAt":"2023-01-09T20:22:06Z","isPatch":false,"sender":{"key":"sschuberth@gmail.com","avatar":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/349154?v=4"},"body":"Thanks Jeff, I meanwhile found out that the diff tool also crashes\nindependently of its use with Git, and was able to isolate the problem\na bit further using gdb.\n\n-- \nSebastian Schuberth\n\nOn Mon, Jan 9, 2023 at 9:07 PM Jeff Hostetler <git@jeffhostetler.com> wrote:\n>\n>\n>\n> On 1/9/23 8:35 AM, Sebastian Schuberth wrote:\n> > Hi,\n> >\n> > similar to this [1] question on StackOverflow, ever since a\n> > distribution upgrade of my Fedora Linux box (KDE spin, now on release\n> > 37), my configured diff / merge tool (Beyond Compare 4) crashes with\n> > \"fatal: external diff died, stopping at ...\" after displaying the diff\n> > for the first file, for every operation I've tried so far (including\n> > resolving merge conflicts). I've also posted to the Beyond Compare\n> > forums [2], but the people from Scooter Software seem to be clueless\n> > as well.\n> >\n> > Would anyone have an idea how to debug this?\n> >\n> > PS: I also tried to use an X11 instead of a Wayland session with KDE /\n> > Plasma, but that did not help.\n> >\n> > [1]: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1437667/git-difftool-with-meld-broken-after-update-to-22-04-fatal-external-diff-died\n> > [2]: https://forum.scootersoftware.com/forum/beyond-compare-4-discussion/linux-aa/88824-bc4-as-a-git-merge-tool-says-fatal-external-diff-died\n> >\n>\n> You might try turning on Trace2 in Git and see if there is\n> any extra info there on the child processes.\n>\n> $ GIT_TRACE2_PERF=1 git difftool ...\n>\n> or\n>\n> $ export GIT_TRACE2_PERF=/absolute/path/to/logfile\n> $ git difftool ...\n>\n> There you'll be able to see all of the \"child_start\" and\n> \"child_exit\" events for each process that Git starts (at\n> the \"d1\" level (and grandchildren at the \"d2\" level)).\n>\n> Maybe that'll reveal something.\n>\n> https://devblogs.microsoft.com/devops/a-deep-dive-into-git-performance-using-trace2/\n>\n>\n> Hope this helps,\n> Jeff\n"}]}