threads / discuss / 39274

git difftool and proper path escaping on windows

Subject: git difftool and proper path escaping on windows

## tl;dr

3 messages between May 8, 2015 and May 10, 2015.

replies: 2people: 3as markdown or json

Phil Susi· May 8, 2015, 17:31 UTC · lore

I'm trying to have git difftool run winmerge to compare files, but it seems to be doing something silly with path translation. My first attempt was:

git difftool -x /c/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe

To which it responded:

C:\Users\psusi\AppData\Local\Programs\Git/libexec/git-core\git-difftool--helper:
  eval: line 61: syntax error near unexpected token `('

C:\Users\psusi\AppData\Local\Programs\Git/libexec/git-core\git-difftool--helper:
  eval: line 61: `c:/Program Files (x86)/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe "$LOCAL" 
"$REMOTE

My first thought was that my shell removed the backslash escapes and then git tried to pass the remaining command to another shell. So I wrapped the path in single quotes, which should pass the escapes to git, which should pass them to the shell, which should then be able to parse the spaces in parenthesis in the path, but instead I got this:

Launch 'c:/Program/ Files/ /(x86/)/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe'

So it appears that git is replacing backslashes with forward slashes, then trying to pass that to the shell, which doesn't work. Any idea how to fix or workaround this bug?

David Aguilar· May 10, 2015, 20:15 UTC · re: Phil Susi · lore

Re: git difftool and proper path escaping on windows

On May 8, 2015 10:31:05 AM PDT, Phil Susi <phillsusi@gmail.com> wrote:

Show 30 quoted lines

>I'm trying to have git difftool run winmerge to compare files, but it 
>seems to be doing something silly with path translation.  My first 
>attempt was:
>
>git difftool -x /c/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe
>
>To which it responded:
>
>C:\Users\psusi\AppData\Local\Programs\Git/libexec/git-core\git-difftool--helper:
>  eval: line 61: syntax error near unexpected token `('
>
>C:\Users\psusi\AppData\Local\Programs\Git/libexec/git-core\git-difftool--helper:
>eval: line 61: `c:/Program Files (x86)/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe "$LOCAL" 
>"$REMOTE
>
>
>My first thought was that my shell removed the backslash escapes and 
>then git tried to pass the remaining command to another shell.  So I 
>wrapped the path in single quotes, which should pass the escapes to
>git, 
>which should pass them to the shell, which should then be able to parse
>
>the spaces in parenthesis in the path, but instead I got this:
>
>Launch 'c:/Program/ Files/ /(x86/)/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe'
>
>So it appears that git is replacing backslashes with forward slashes, 
>then trying to pass that to the shell, which doesn't work.  Any idea
>how 
>to fix or workaround this bug?

paths and executing external programs on windows is confusing and error-prone for a simple unix user such as myself.

I think you might be able to work around the difficulties by making the tool available in your $PATH, that way you don't have to play shell quoting / escaping games.

I hope that helps. if you discover a different solution, I'd be happy to document it so that windows users don't have to rediscover how to do it in the future.

let me know how it goes. cheers

-- 
David

Philip Oakley· May 10, 2015, 21:09 UTC · re: David Aguilar · lore

Re: git difftool and proper path escaping on windows

From: "David Aguilar" <davvid@gmail.com>

Show 48 quoted lines

> On May 8, 2015 10:31:05 AM PDT, Phil Susi <phillsusi@gmail.com> wrote:
>>I'm trying to have git difftool run winmerge to compare files, but it
>>seems to be doing something silly with path translation.  My first
>>attempt was:
>>
>>git difftool -x /c/Program\ Files\ \(x86\)/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe
>>
>>To which it responded:
>>
>>C:\Users\psusi\AppData\Local\Programs\Git/libexec/git-core\git-difftool--helper:
>>  eval: line 61: syntax error near unexpected token `('
>>
>>C:\Users\psusi\AppData\Local\Programs\Git/libexec/git-core\git-difftool--helper:
>>eval: line 61: `c:/Program Files (x86)/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe "$LOCAL"
>>"$REMOTE
>>
>>
>>My first thought was that my shell removed the backslash escapes and
>>then git tried to pass the remaining command to another shell.  So I
>>wrapped the path in single quotes, which should pass the escapes to
>>git,
>>which should pass them to the shell, which should then be able to 
>>parse
>>
>>the spaces in parenthesis in the path, but instead I got this:
>>
>>Launch 'c:/Program/ Files/ /(x86/)/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe'
>>
>>So it appears that git is replacing backslashes with forward slashes,
>>then trying to pass that to the shell, which doesn't work.  Any idea
>>how
>>to fix or workaround this bug?
>
>
> paths and executing external programs on windows is confusing and 
> error-prone for a simple unix user such as myself.
>
> I think you might be able to work around the difficulties by making 
> the tool available in your $PATH, that way you don't have to play 
> shell quoting / escaping games.
>
> I hope that helps. if you discover a different solution, I'd be happy 
> to document it so that windows users don't have to rediscover how to 
> do it in the future.
>
> let me know how it goes.
> cheers
>

A quick web browse found https://gist.github.com/shawndumas/6158524 as one example of a winmerge configuration.

my personal .gitconfig has
[difftool "WinMerge"]
 path = C:/Program Files/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe
 cmd = 'C:/Program Files/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe' /e /x /u $LOCAL $REMOTE
[mergetool "WinMerge"]
 path = C:/Program Files/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe
 cmd = 'C:/Program Files/WinMerge/WinMergeU.exe' /e /x /u $LOCAL $REMOTE 
$MERGED
 trustExitCode = false

(excuse whitespace damage) though I don't use it much.