diff: comparing patch series ============================ The ``diff`` subcommand allows comparing two different revisions of the same patch series using ``git range-diff``. Note, that in order to perform the ``range-diff`` comparison, both revisions need to cleanly apply to the current tree, which may not always be easy to achieve. The easiest way to use it is to prepare two mbox files of the series you would like to compare first:: $ b4 am --no-cover -n ver1 msgid-of-ver-1 $ b4 am --no-cover -n ver2 msgid-of-ver-2 $ b4 diff -m ver1.mbx ver2.mbx Optional flags -------------- ``-g GITDIR, --gitdir GITDIR`` Specify a path to the git tree to use, if not running the command inside a git tree. ``-C, --no-cache`` By default, b4 will cache the retrieved threads for about 10 minutes. This lets you force b4 to ignore cache and retrieve the latest results. ``-v WANTVERS [WANTVERS ...], --compare-versions WANTVERS [WANTVERS ...]`` To properly work, this requires that both versions being compared are part of the same thread, which is rarely the case. In the future, this may work better as more series use the ``change-id`` trailer to keep track of revisions across discussion threads. Example: ``b4 diff -v 2 3`` ``-n, --no-diff`` By default, ``b4 diff`` will output the results of the range-diff command. However, this can be a wall of text, so instead you may want to just view the command that you can run yourself with the ranges prepared by b4. This additionally allows you to tweak the ``git-range`` flags to use. ``-m AMBOX AMBOX, --compare-am-mboxes AMBOX AMBOX`` Compares two mbox files prepared by ``git am`` instead of querying the public-inbox server directly. ``-o OUTDIFF, --output-diff OUTDIFF`` **(DEPRECATED)** Sends ``range-diff`` output into a file. You should use ``-n`` instead and redirect output from the actual ``git range-diff`` command. ``-c, --color`` **(DEPRECATED)** Show colour output even when outputting into a file. You should use ``-n`` instead and modify flags to ``range-diff``.