9

I want to directly compare the diffs of two commits in emacs (rather than seeing the diff of two trees at given commit points).

A bonus would be being able to use ediff mode to compare the two buffers.

However there seems to be no way to have two *magit-revision* buffers open at once. Even if I rename the first, (magit-visit-ref) still updates that buffer.

I've looked through the manuals but couldn't find a reference to what controls the new buffer creation. Any ideas?

Improve this question
7
  • Not clear to me if you're asking to get a diff between two commits, or look at two diffs from two commits at once.
    – npostavs
    Oct 20, 2016 at 13:38
  • 2
    @npostavs: the second, I want to compare the two commits side by side to see what changed in a particular changeset rather than over the whole tree.
    – stsquad
    Oct 20, 2016 at 13:41
  • 2
    Have you tried running magit-toggle-buffer-lock on the first revision buffer rather than renaming it?
    – Kyle Meyer
    Oct 20, 2016 at 13:45
  • @KyleMeyer: ahh that makes sense - and works ;-)
    – stsquad
    Oct 20, 2016 at 13:47
  • @KyleMeyer: are you going to write up your answer or do you want me to do it?
    – stsquad
    Oct 21, 2016 at 10:54

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5

Based on Kyle Meyer's comment to the OP -- thanks, Kyle.

It seems that what you want is to see the diffs associated with the two commits in two separate magit-revision buffers. You can accomplish this by loading up the first diff in the usual way (e.g. by hitting RET on it in a log view), running M-x magit-toggle-buffer-lock so that the buffer becomes pinned to that particular view, and then loading up the second diff in the usual way.

Without M-x magit-toggle-buffer-lock, Magit would reuse the buffer containing the first diff, erasing it and putting the second diff there instead. With M-x magit-toggle-buffer-lock, Magit is "forced" to create a new buffer for the second diff, which is what you want.

Note that djangoliv's answer does something different; it starts up an ediff session comparing the versions of a file from two different different commits.

Improve this answer
10

You can do it from the magit-log buffer

  • M-x magit-log
  • E r ref1..ref2
Improve this answer
4
  • You can do it from the status buffer too (although seeing the log will help to find the refs, of course)
    – npostavs
    Oct 20, 2016 at 13:39
  • This does get what I want, almost, is it possible to show the revisions side by side for all files or do I need to compare a file at a time?
    – stsquad
    Oct 20, 2016 at 13:46
  • you need to compare a file at a time.
    – djangoliv
    Oct 21, 2016 at 6:55
  • brilliant, should be the answer. I wonder if there is a way to Ediff bunch of files from one commit to another rather than Ediffing files one by one between these two commits.
    – doctorate
    Jan 8 at 20:12

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.