# Git difftool / mergetool on directory tree

4 messages from 2011-12-14 to 2011-12-15. Participants: Daniele Segato, Thomas Rast, Junio C Hamano, Neal Kreitzinger.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/29161

## Daniele Segato, 2011-12-14 08:42

Subject: Git difftool / mergetool on directory tree
Message-ID: <4EE8618E.7020902@gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/4EE8618E.7020902%40gmail.com

```
Hi,

many diff / merge tool around have the ability to compare a directory 
tree (meld is one, but there are many).

Is there a way to start a difftool or a mergetool on a folder instead of 
the single file?

It would be an handsome feature to git.

I googled a little before popping out this question and I only found 
suggestion on how to open "many" file at once instead of opening them 
serially but that's not the same thing not as powerful as directory 
comparison.

Thanks,
Daniele

```

## Thomas Rast, 2011-12-14 16:25

Subject: Re: Git difftool / mergetool on directory tree
Message-ID: <201112141725.14729.trast@student.ethz.ch>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/201112141725.14729.trast%40student.ethz.ch
In-Reply-To: <4EE8618E.7020902@gmail.com>

```
Daniele Segato wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> many diff / merge tool around have the ability to compare a directory 
> tree (meld is one, but there are many).
> 
> Is there a way to start a difftool or a mergetool on a folder instead of 
> the single file?
> 
> It would be an handsome feature to git.
> 
> I googled a little before popping out this question and I only found 
> suggestion on how to open "many" file at once instead of opening them 
> serially but that's not the same thing not as powerful as directory 
> comparison.

Maybe this helps:

  http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/144839

It was never applied however.

-- 
Thomas Rast
trast@{inf,student}.ethz.ch

```

## Junio C Hamano, 2011-12-14 17:50

Subject: Re: Git difftool / mergetool on directory tree
Message-ID: <7vliqfqbzg.fsf@alter.siamese.dyndns.org>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/7vliqfqbzg.fsf%40alter.siamese.dyndns.org
In-Reply-To: <201112141725.14729.trast@student.ethz.ch>

```
Thomas Rast <trast@student.ethz.ch> writes:

> Daniele Segato wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> many diff / merge tool around have the ability to compare a directory 
>> tree (meld is one, but there are many).
>> 
>> Is there a way to start a difftool or a mergetool on a folder instead of 
>> the single file?
>> 
>> It would be an handsome feature to git.
>> 
>> I googled a little before popping out this question and I only found 
>> suggestion on how to open "many" file at once instead of opening them 
>> serially but that's not the same thing not as powerful as directory 
>> comparison.
>
> Maybe this helps:
>
>   http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/144839
>
> It was never applied however.

A later reincarnation of a similar idea was in

  http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/184458/focus=184462

but the interest petered out, it seems.

```

## Neal Kreitzinger, 2011-12-15 19:53

Subject: Re: Git difftool / mergetool on directory tree
Message-ID: <4EEA501D.3050401@gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/4EEA501D.3050401%40gmail.com
In-Reply-To: <4EE8618E.7020902@gmail.com>

```
On 12/14/2011 2:42 AM, Daniele Segato wrote:
> many diff / merge tool around have the ability to compare a directory
> tree (meld is one, but there are many).
>
> Is there a way to start a difftool or a mergetool on a folder instead of
> the single file?
>
> It would be an handsome feature to git.
>
> I googled a little before popping out this question and I only found
> suggestion on how to open "many" file at once instead of opening them
> serially but that's not the same thing not as powerful as directory
> comparison.
>
(This works with kdiff3 as the mergetool/difftool on git 1.7.1 on linux):

git difftool <commit>:<dir>/ <commit-2>:<dir>/

e.g., git difftool mycommit:ourdir/ yourcommit:ourdir/

<commit> = pointer to a commit (ie: sha-1, branchname, tag, ref)
<dir> = path of dir relative to worktree


v/r,
neal

```