Bug report: diff

[Brian Inglis]

On 2025-06-25 14:50, Eliot Moss via Cygwin wrote:
> On 6/25/2025 4:28 PM, Eliot Moss via Cygwin wrote:
>> On 6/25/2025 3:03 PM, Brian Inglis via Cygwin wrote:
>>> On 2025-06-24 19:46, Eliot Moss via Cygwin wrote:
>>>> The following used to work, but now does not:
>>>> diff -q --to-file=old foo.tex bar.tex
>>>> where old is a sub-directory of the current directory.
>>>> This always reports:
>>>> diff: old: No such file or directory
>>>> It's ok when only one file is listed:
>>>> diff -q --to-file=old foo.tex
>>>
>>> Do you have entries ./old/{foo,bar}.tex, do each differ from respective
>>> ./{foo,bar}.tex, and are there any other entries or directories under ./old/?
>>
>> I tried with and without.  It complains (obviously :-) ) if one of the .tex files
>> does not actually exist, but that's distinct from complaining about old, which 
>> *does*
>> exist.
>>
>>> Are there are any file name case differences or symlinks in paths?
>>
>> No case differences, no symlinks.
>>
>>> It is often more useful to ls -l (-gG) and diff (-q) actual directories
>>> ./{,old/} so we can see all relevant information (maybe sanitize info if 
>>> necessary).
>>
>> ls -lG old ==>
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss 13811 Jun 24 19:02 arch.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss 35714 Jun 24 19:02 background.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss  6847 Jun 24 19:02 intro.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss  9124 Jun 24 19:03 progress.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss 15858 Jun 23 22:31 proposal.bib
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss 13703 Jun 24 19:03 proposal.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss 12836 Jun 24 19:02 proposed.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss  6541 Jun 24 19:02 timeline.tex
>>
>> ls -lG ./*.tex ==>
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss 13811 Jun 24 19:02 ./arch.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss 35714 Jun 24 19:02 ./background.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss  6847 Jun 24 19:02 ./intro.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss  9124 Jun 24 19:03 ./progress.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss 13703 Jun 24 19:03 ./proposal.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss 12836 Jun 24 19:02 ./proposed.tex
>> -rwxrw----+ 1 moss  6541 Jun 24 19:02 ./timeline.tex
>>
>> ls -lGd . old ==>
>> drwxrwx---+ 1 moss 0 Jun 24 21:32 .
>> drwxrwx---+ 1 moss 0 Jun 24 21:32 old
>>
>>> Any reason why you chose --to-file option for your old directory rather than 
>>> the more conventional --from-file option?
>>
>> Not really.  --from-file gives the same error.  Near as I can tell it is 
>> always failing
>> when --to-file/--from-file is a directory and there is a list of more than one 
>> file.
>>
>>> If you could check whether the issue appeared in 3.11 and worked okay in 3.10 
>>> or point to the failing version that would be useful.
>>
>> Ok, I'll try older versions of the diff package and try to narrow when the 
>> behavior changed.
> 
> The answer is:
> 
> 3.11-1 exhibits the undesired behavior
> 3.10-1 does not
> 
> So I guess it's something in those ~250 commits (sorry!).

Thanks for testing - can reproduce behaviours - will start digging into same 
file changes.

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis              Calgary, Alberta, Canada

La perfection est atteinte                   Perfection is achieved
non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter  not when there is no more to add
mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retrancher  but when there is no more to cut
                                 -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry