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
4 replies on “latexdiff with git”
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
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”
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
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