latexdiff with git

Jan 31, 2013

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The program latexdiff is a simple program that can compare the changes of two versions of TeX files and generate a new TeX file with highlights of the changes. The program is shipped with most tex distributions.

There is a lot discussions on how to integrate latexdiff with version control systems like git. If you have your tex documents git-controlled. You want to check the change of two revisions visually (not the standard git-diff for text files but you want see the difference in a pdf file for two tex files). For sophisticated solution integrating with git, you may consider using git-latexdiff.

A simple solution is to run the command

latexdiff <(git show oldcommit:file.tex) file.tex > diff.tex

and then simply run e.g.

pdflatex -interaction=nonstopmode diff.tex

to see the changes in diff.pdf.

UPDATE: If you run into troubles that some tex environments (e.g. tables) do not diff properly with latexdiff, you could provide a custmized config file. e.g. ld.cfg containing the following information

PICTUREENV=(?:picture|DIFnomarkup|table)[\w\d@]

and run latexdiff as

latexdiff -c ld.cfg <(git show oldcommit:file.tex) file.tex > diff.tex

Comments

4 responses to “latexdiff with git”

Zoltan Csati

2016-04-29

I use git under Windows. latexdiff works well, but inside the git prompt I cannot use latexdiff as it returns the error
Can’t locate Algorithm/Diff.pm in @INC (you may need to install the Algorithm::Diff module) (@INC contains: /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl /usr/share/perl5/site_perl /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl /usr/lib/perl5/core_perl /usr/share/perl5/core_perl .) at C:\Programok\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts\latexdiff\latexdiff line 124.
BEGIN failed–compilation aborted at C:\Programok\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts\latexdiff\latexdiff line 124.

Why can’t I use latexdiff in git?

Thank you

Reply
1. Feng Li
  
  2016-05-02
  
  I am not a Window user. So I can not answer your question directly. According to the error message “you may need to install the Algorithm::Diff module” I guess you need “http://search.cpan.org/~tyemq/Algorithm-Diff-1.1903/lib/Algorithm/Diff.pm”
  
  Reply
2. Y
  
  2016-10-16
  
  Latexdiff is in fact a Perl script, and leverages the Perl package “Algorithm-Diff”
  
  Thus, to use it, you need Perl support.
  https://www.perl.org/get.html
  
  If the error messages appear again.
  
  You should tell BASH terminal to find the Perl scripts correctly, typing the following command in BASH terminal,
  export PATH=”C:\Perl64\bin:$PATH”
  to set the environment variable for current process, or adding the following lines
  # Add PDF Viewer (just an example)
  export PDFVIEWER=”C:\Program Files (x86)\Foxit Software\Foxit Reader\FoxitReader.exe”
  
  # Add Perl
  export PATH=”C:\Perl64\bin:$PATH”
  
  into file C:\Program Files\Git\etc\profile.d\env.sh, to set the environment variable permanently.
  
  I recommend you to use git-latex.
  To compare current version to the version 8 commits back, as simple as,
  git latexdiff HEAD~8
  
  Regards
  
  Y
  
  Reply
3. Y
  
  2016-10-16
  
  BTW,
  Makesure you have installed.
  It should be shipped with the latest Perl Windows Release
  
  You can goto Perl package manager to check/install it.
  Active 5.24.0 Build 2400 -> Perl Package manager
  
  Good luck!
  
  Y
  
  Reply

latexdiff with git

Comments

4 responses to “latexdiff with git”

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