Hi, My Technical Documentation team has recently been informed that we are to be moving to GIT for our version control. We will be working in GIT GUI or GIT extensions. I see, however, that you cannot properly use the "diff" view properly with the FrameMaker files, but only, from what I can tell, .txt, and .html. Is there a good way to work with GIT from FrameMaker?
Thanks
Matthieu MoyRe: Using GIT with FrameMaker
Rivka Pollack <Rivka_P1@verifone.com> writes:
> Hi, > My Technical Documentation team has recently been informed that we are to be > moving to GIT for our version control. > We will be working in GIT GUI or GIT extensions. > I see, however, that you cannot properly use the "diff" view properly with the > FrameMaker files, but only, from what I can tell, .txt, and .html.
Not just .txt and .html. Anything that looks like text (i.e. anything that can be opened in a text editor and looks good in it).
> Is there a good way to work with GIT from FrameMaker?
FrameMaker, I have no idea. But Git has two things that can help you:
* External diff engine: read about GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF in http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/v1.0.13/git-diff-files.html and look for "Defining an external diff driver" in http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitattributes.html
Roughly, if FrameMaker has a way to compare two documents, then Git can call it automatically.
* Text Converters: Read the section "Performing text diffs of binary files" in http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/gitattributes.html
Roughly: if you have a way to display the content of your framemaker files as text, then Git can call this, and then show a textual diff of your document.
In this page http://www-verimag.imag.fr/~moy/opendocument/ I explain how to do that with OpenDocument files (OpenOffice & friends). If FrameMaker provides the relevant tools, it shouldn't be hard to adapt.
-- Matthieu Moy http://www-verimag.imag.fr/~moy/