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I am using diffuse as a diff tool over Linux, but when I use the git command 

$ git difftool --dir-diff

for opening the modified files in a directory, I get the following error :

Error processing argument "/tmp/git-difftool.nUMQD7/left/".  Directory not expected.

The same error is seen even if I use $git difftool --dir-diff commit-id^!. can anyone please let me know what is the issue here? If I use $git difftool file1 where file1 is one of the modified files, it works perfectly fine and opens the graphical diff. But I would like to open the graphical diff for all the modified files. Please let me know how can I do that.

Michael Kazarian
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mezda
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  • Is there any chance that in the new git commit, what used to be a file is now a directory ? Maybe something was called "make" and was a file, and now "make" is a directory ? – Cedric Jan 17 '18 at 09:13

1 Answers1

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The diff tool that your git uses probably doesn't support recursive comparison. What is in your .gitconfig , by the line diff ? (probably diffuse)

Configure your diff tool to be able to use a recursive directory comparison command.

What are the best diff tools for Git? use Kdiff3 or Meld, they are great IMO.

git's git-difftool documentation

Cedric
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  • not sure though, may be issue was with diffuse. using meld now and its working fine. – mezda Jan 17 '18 at 18:09
  • The error message you had is one from diffuse (that is how I supposed this tool was used on your computer for git diff). Basically, git difftool passed arguments to diffuse, and diffuse expected those to be files paths; not folders paths. – Cedric Jan 18 '18 at 07:41
  • is there a solution to this problem with diffuse as well ? – mezda Jan 18 '18 at 18:25
  • I am not too sure about this one. It should be, as even the official git difftool page specifies diffuse as a valid diff tool. Maybe ask to developer/maintainer of diffuse themselves (maybe they have a forum or irc). – Cedric Jan 19 '18 at 07:49
  • diffuse does not look like it has dir-diff as meld does. The last release appears to be 2014, and this feature was requested 2011 but with no action. I LOVE diffuse, I hate the way meld scrolls, and separates its check summery indicators, but it looks like diffuse has become abandonware. PLEASE tell me I am wrong! :-( – anthony Jan 17 '20 at 06:34