Re: [Quilt-dev] [PATCH] Fix interaction between quilt and vimdiff

[Andreas Gruenbacher]

On Son, 2012-03-04 at 07:48 -0800, Kaz Kylheku wrote:
> > I think we don't really need the pages logic when the --diff=command
> > option is used: the command can implement paging itself if that is
> > desired.
> 
> I beg to differ. Rather, I beg that a diff command is only a differ,
> and refrains from being overloaded with the unrelated job of paging.
> 
> A --diff interface that kills your pager and forces you to reimplement
> the paging in the diff command is going to be a nuisance for
> people who just want to use "diff" with different options,
> like more context lines

That's actually what the -U num and -C num options are there for.  A
real use case would have been more interesting.

> Therefore, here is a suggestion: if displaying diffs are to be
> supported, then have an option for them like --display-diff, and
> maybe even a QUILT_DISPLAY_DIFF environment variable.

Indeed, a new command-like option for invoking tools that don't need
paging would work nicely.  For comparison, git-difftool and
git-mergetool have a --tool option for that.

Andreas