Re: Why does diff not default to the unified format?

[John Cowan]

Shriramana Sharma scripsit:

> So the current default format is also used widely then? Is there a 
> reason it is not used popularly for patches on the net or is it just 
> that I have never come across one?

You're right that it's not useful as a distribution format particularly.
Publishing default-format diffs isn't very useful, because they are
brittle; if the receiver has a slightly different version, the patch
will screw it up.  But that doesn't mean people don't rely on the
format internally.  If you don't like it, "alias" or a trivial script
is your friend.

-- 
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