Re: Suggested new feature for rcsdiff

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

() Keith Thompson <address@hidden>
() Tue, 9 Nov 2010 10:28:13 -0800

       Install diffutils version X
       Install RCS, configuring it to use /usr/local/apps/diffutils-X/bin/diff
       Install diffutils version Y
       Nuke diffutils version X because it's obsolete
       RCS stops working

   Most modern systems use package management systems that avoid
   this kind of problem, and I haven't actually run into it myself in
   some time.  The question is, is this worth addressing?

   If so, there could be a mechanism (perhaps a config file whose
   location is set when RCS is installed) that tells RCS where to
   find the "diff" command.  It needn't be flexible enough to allow
   for something that doesn't act like GNU diff.

Thanks for explaining this.  I see now that runtime flexibility is
very important in such a case and will add some kind of option to
RCS (perhaps even 5.8).  GNU diff "workalikeness" will be required.