2 .\" wiggle - apply rejected patches
4 .\" Copyright (C) 2003 Neil Brown <neilb@cse.unsw.edu.au>
5 .\" Copyright (C) 2010 Neil Brown <neilb@suse.de>
8 .\" This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
9 .\" it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
10 .\" the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
11 .\" (at your option) any later version.
13 .\" This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
14 .\" but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
15 .\" MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
16 .\" GNU General Public License for more details.
18 .\" You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
19 .\" along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
20 .\" Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
22 .\" Author: Neil Brown
23 .\" Email: <neilb@suse.de>
27 wiggle \- apply rejected patches and perform word-wise diffs
31 .BI wiggle " [function] [options] file [files]"
36 is to apply a patch to a file in a similar manner to the
40 The distinctive difference of
42 is that it will attempt to apply a patch even if the "before" part of
43 the patch doesn't match the target file perfectly.
44 This is achieved by breaking the file and patch into words and finding
45 the best alignment of words in the file with words in the patch.
46 Once this alignment has been found, any differences (word-wise) in the
47 patch are applied to the file as best as possible.
51 will (in some cases) detect changes that have already been applied,
55 ensures that every change in the patch is applied to the target
56 file somehow. If a particular change cannot be made in the file, the
57 file is annotated to show where the change should be made in a similar
63 Each annotation contains 3 components: a portion of the original file
64 where the change should be applied, a portion of the patch that
65 couldn't be matched precisely in the file, and the text that should
66 replace that portion of the patch. These are separated by lines
67 containing precisely 7 identical characters, either '<', '|', '=', or '>', so
72 Some portion of the original file
76 text to replace it with
82 indicates that "text to replace" should be replaced by "text to
83 replace it with" somewhere in the portion of the original file.
86 was not able to find a place to make this change.
89 can also produce conflict reports showing only the words that are
90 involved rather than showing whole lines.
91 In this case the output looks like:
94 <<<---original|||old===new--->>>
101 to apply some patch, and to collect a list of rejects by monitoring
102 the error messages from patch. Then for each file for which a
103 reject was found, run
105 wiggle \-\-replace originalfile originalfile.rej
107 Finally each file must be examined to resolve any unresolved
108 conflicts, and to make sure the applied patch is semantically correct.
110 Alternately, the original patch file can be feed to the
114 wiggle \-B < patchfile
116 This will allow the changes and conflicts to be inspected and, to some
117 extent, modified; and then the results can be save.
120 The following options are understood by
122 Some of these are explained in more detail in the following sections
123 on MERGE, DIFF, EXTRACT, and BROWSE.
126 .BR \-m ", " \-\-merge
127 Select the "merge" function. This is the default function.
130 .BR \-d ", " \-\-diff
131 Select the "diff" function. This displays the differences between
132 files. This can be given after
134 (see below) in which case a patch or diff of two files can be viewed
135 without the originals.
139 .BR \-x ", " \-\-extract
140 Select the "extract" function. This extracts one branch of a patch or
144 .BR \-B ", " \-\-browse
145 Select the "browse" function. This is similar to "merge" (or "diff")
146 only with a different presentation. Instead of the result simply
147 being sent to standard output, it is presented using an ncurses-based
148 GUI so that each hunk of the patch can be examined to understand what
149 conflicts where involved and what needed to be ignored in order of the
150 patch to be wiggled in to place.
153 .BR \-w ", " \-\-words
154 Request that all operations and display be word based. This is the
155 default for the "diff" function.
158 .BR \-l ", " \-\-lines
159 Request that all operations and display be line based.
162 .BR \-b ", " \-\-ignore\-blanks
163 De-emphasise white space (space, tab, and newline) is determining
164 differences and changes.
166 Normally white space is treated like a word which can be matched or
167 changed by a patch. When this flag is in force, white space serves
168 only as a separator between other words and is not matched itself.
169 The effect of this is that changes in the amount of white space are
170 not treated as significant.
172 To be precise, any white space is combined with the preceeding word
173 or, in the case of leading space on a line, with the following word.
174 However it is not involved in any comparisons of that word. If a patch
175 deletes a word, the attached white space is deleted as well. If a
176 patch adds a word, the attached white space is added as well.
178 An empty line, or one that contains only blanks, will be treated as a
179 single word that will match any other blank line, no matter how many
188 .BR \-p ", " \-\-patch
189 Treat the last named file as a patch instead of a file (with \-\-diff)
190 or a merge (\-\-extract).
197 requires there be exactly one file which is a patch and which can
198 contain patches to multiple files. The patches are merged into each
201 mode, this usage requires the
203 option as writing lots of merged files to standard-out is impractical.
205 When processing a multi-file patch,
207 can be followed by a numeric argument indicating how many file name
208 components should be stripped from files named in the patch file. If no
209 numeric argument is given,
211 will deduce an appropriate number based what files are present in the
215 .BR \-r ", " \-\-replace
216 Normally the merged output is written to standard-output. With
217 \-\-replace, the original file is replaced with the merge output.
222 to always save the resulting merge when exiting.
225 .BR \-o ", " \-\-output=
226 Rather than writing the result to stdout or to replace the original
227 file, this requests that the output be written to the given file.
228 This is only meaningful with
232 when given a single merge to browse.
234 This option overrides
238 .BR \-R ", " \-\-reverse
241 function, swap the files before calculating
249 attempts to revert changes rather than apply them.
252 .BR \-i ", " \-\-no\-ignore
253 Normally wiggle will ignore changes in the patch which appear to
254 already have been applied in the original. With this flag those
255 changes are reported as conflicts rather than being ignored.
258 .BR \-W ", " \-\-show\-wiggles
261 conflicts that can be wiggled into place are reported as conflicts
262 with an extra stanza which shows what the result would be if this flag
263 had not been used. The extra stanza is introduce with a line
264 containing 7 ampersand
271 Some portion of the original file
275 text to replace it with
277 Text that would result from a successful wiggle
284 .B \-\-report\-wiggles
285 If a merge is successful in applying all changes, it will normally exit
286 with a success status (0), only reporting failure (1) if a conflict
287 occurred and was annotated. With
288 .B \-\-report\-wiggles
290 will also report failure if any changes had to be wiggled in. This
293 is used for automatic merges as with
295 If any wiggles happen,
297 will report the failure, and the results can be examined to confirm
301 .BR \-h ", " \-\-help
302 Print a simple help message. If given after one of the function
308 help specific to that function is displayed.
311 .BR \-V ", " \-\-version
312 Display the version number of
316 .BR \-v ", " \-\-verbose
317 Enable verbose mode. Currently this makes no difference.
320 .BR \-q ", " \-\-quiet
321 Enable quiet mode. This suppresses the message from the merge
322 function when there are unresolvable conflicts.
326 can divide a text into lines or words when performing it's tasks.
327 A line is simply a string of characters terminated by a newline.
328 A word is either a maximal contiguous string of alphanumerics
329 (including underscore), a maximal contiguous string of space or tab
330 characters, or any other single character.
333 The merge function modifies a given text by finding all changes between
334 two other texts and imposing those changes on the given text.
338 focuses on which words have changed so as to maximise the possibility
339 of finding a good match in the given text for the context of a given
340 change. However it can consider only whole lines instead.
343 extracts the three texts that it needs from files listed on the
344 command line. Either 1, 2, or 3 files may be listed, and any one of
345 them may be a lone hyphen signifying standard-input.
347 If one file is given and the
349 option is not present, the file is treated as a
351 file, i.e. the output of "merge \-A" or "wiggle". Such a file
352 implicitly contains three streams and these are extracted and
355 If two files are given, then the first simply contains the primary
356 text, and the second is treated as a patch file (the output of "diff\ \-u"
357 or "diff\ \-c", or a ".rej" file from
359 and the two other texts
360 are extracted from that.
362 If one file is given together with the
364 option, the file is treated as a patch file containing the names of
365 the files that it patches. In this case multiple merge operations can
366 happen and each takes one stream from a file named in the patch, and
367 the other two from the patch itself. The
369 option is required and the results are written back to the
372 Finally if three files are listed, they are taken to contain the given
373 text and the two other texts, in order.
375 Normally the result of the merge is written to standard-output.
378 flag is given, the output is written to a file
379 which replaces the original given file. In this case the original file
382 suffix (for "patched original" which makes sense if you first use
384 to apply a patch, and then use
386 to wiggle the rejects in).
388 If no errors occur (such as file access errors)
390 will exit with a status of 0 if all changes were successfully merged,
391 and with an exit status of 1 and a brief message if any changes could
392 not be fully merged and were instead inserted as annotations.
394 .B \-\-report\-wiggles
399 will also exist with status of 1 if any changes had to be wiggled in
400 even though this was successful.
402 The merge function can operate in three different modes with respect
407 option, whole lines are compared and any conflicts
408 are reported as whole lines that need to be replaced.
412 option, individual words are compared and any
413 conflicts are reported just covering the words affected. This uses
414 the \f(CW <<<|||===>>> \fP conflict format.
416 Without either of these options, a hybrid approach is taken.
417 Individual words are compared and merged, but when a conflict is found
418 the whole surrounding line is reported as being in conflict.
421 will ensure that every change between the two other texts is reflected
422 in the result of the merge somehow. There are four different ways
423 that a change can be reflected.
431 is found at a suitable place in the original file, it is
434 This includes the possibility that
442 If a change is found which simply adds
444 and the text immediately preceding and following the insertion are
445 found adjacent in the original file in a suitable place, then
447 is inserted between those adjacent texts.
450 If a change is found which changes
454 and this appears (based on context) to align with
456 in the original, then it is assumed that this change has already been
457 applied, and the change is ignored. When this happens, a message
458 reflecting the number of ignored changes is printed by
460 This optimisation can be suppressed with the
465 If a change is found that does not fit any of the above possibilities,
466 then a conflict is reported as described earlier.
470 The diff function is provided primarily to allow inspection of the
473 calculated between texts and that it uses for performing a merge.
475 The output of the diff function is similar to the unified output of
476 diff. However while diff does not output long stretches of common text,
478 diff mode outputs everything.
480 When calculating a word-based alignment (the default),
482 may need to show these word-based differences. This is done using an
483 extension to the unified-diff format. If a line starts with a
484 vertical bar, then it may contain sections surrounded by special
485 multi-character brackets. The brackets "<<<++" and "++>>>" surround
486 added text while "<<<--" and "-->>>" surround removed text.
489 can be given the two texts to compare in one of three ways.
491 If only one file is given, then it is treated as a patch and the two
492 branches of that diff are compared. This effectively allows a patch
493 to be refined from a line-based patch to a word-based patch.
495 If two files are given, then they are normally assumed to be simple
496 texts to be compared.
498 If two files are given along with the \-\-patch option, then the second
499 file is assumed to be a patch and either the first (with \-1) or the
500 second (with \-2) branch is extracted and compared with text found in
503 This last option causes
505 to apply a "best-fit" algorithm for aligning patch hunks with the
506 file before computing the differences. This algorithm is used when
507 merging a patch with a file, and its value can be seen by comparing
508 the difference produced this way with the difference produced by first
509 extracting one branch of a patch into a file, and then computing the
510 difference of that file with the main file.
515 The extract function of
517 simply exposes the internal functionality for extracting one branch of
518 a patch or a merge file.
520 Precisely one file should be given, and it will be assumed to be a
523 is given, in which case a patch is assumed.
525 The choice of branch in made by providing one of
530 with obvious meanings.
534 The browse function of
536 presents the result of a merge or (with
538 a diff) in a text-based GUI that can be
539 navigated using keystrokes similar to vi(1) or emacs(1).
541 The browser allows each of the two or three streams to be viewed individually
542 with colours used to highlight different sorts of text - green for
543 added text, red for deleted text etc. It can also show the patch by
544 itself, the full result of the merge, or the merge and the patch
547 The browser provides a number of context-sensitive help pages which
548 can be accessed by typing '?'
550 A limited amount of editing is permitted while in
552 mode. Currently any Conflict or Changed section can be converted to
553 Unchanged by using the
555 key (lower case), or all the Conflict and Changes sections in a line
556 can be converted to Unchanged.
558 (upper case). The effect can be toggled by pressing
564 A Conflict section can also be converted to Change (so the result is
565 accepted even though there wasn't a proper match) with the (lower
572 If you make any changes, then wiggle will ask you if you want
573 to save the changes, even if
577 To make more sweeping changes you can use
579 which runs an editor, preferring
583 if they are set in the environment.
587 Caution should always be exercised when applying a rejected patch with
591 rejects a patch, it does so for a good reason. Even though
593 may be able to find a believable place to apply each textual change,
594 there is no guarantee that the result is correct in any semantic
595 sense. The result should always be inspected to make sure it is
600 .B " wiggle \-\-replace file file.rej"
602 This is the normal usage of
604 and will take any changes in
608 could not apply, and merge them into
611 .B " wiggle \-dp1 file file.rej"
613 This will perform a word-wise comparison between the
617 branch of the diff in
619 and display the differences. This allows you to see where a given
622 .B " wiggle \-\-merge \-\-help"
624 Get help about the merge function of
627 .B " wiggle \-\-browse \-\-patch update.patch"
631 file for patches and present a list of patched files which can be
632 browsed to examine each patch in detail.
635 can be integrated with
637 so that it is used as the default merge tool and diff tool.
638 This can be achieved by adding the following lines to
640 in the user's home directory.
645 name = "Wiggle flexible merging"
646 driver = wiggle \-o %A %A %O %B
651 cmd = wiggle \-B \-o $MERGED $LOCAL $BASE $REMOTE
653 cmd = wiggle \-Bd $LOCAL $REMOTE
668 for merges (which may be dangerous), you can add
675 .BR $HOME/.config/git/attributes .
682 was inspired by the following quote. However
686 you to wiggle a patch into place. It either does the wiggle itself,
687 or leave it for you to finish off.
690 The problem I find is that I often want to take
691 (file1+patch) -> file2,
692 when I don't have file1. But merge tools want to take
693 (file1|file2) -> file3.
694 I haven't seen a graphical tool which helps you to wiggle a patch
697 \-\- Andrew Morton - 2002
703 cannot read the extended unified-diff output that it produces for
708 cannot read the word-based merge format that it produces for \-\-merge
713 Neil Brown at Computer Science and Engineering at
714 The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia;
715 and later and SUSE, still in Sydney, Australia.
724 .IR gitattributes (5).
git / wiggle.git / blob