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Using ubuntu 20.04, I first installed cargo: curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh Restart shell to get $HOME/.cargo/bin in PATH, then did: cargo install d

Using ubuntu 20.04, I first installed cargo: curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh Restart shell to get $HOME/.cargo/bin in PATH, then did: cargo install difftastic And ~4 minutes later, difft executable is ready. Agree though that some pre-built binaries would be fantastic!

loxias 5y ago
Ah, well, if you're willing to accept having a frankensystem with a mix of packaged and unpackaged software, sure. ;) I used to do that, back in Slackware days. It's considered really sloppy and unmaintainable to admin a system like that. Things quickly get out of hand. That strategy _does_ work if you isolate it to a chroot or a container, but littering /usr/local with all sorts of locally compiled upstream is just asking for future pain. Security updates, library incompatibilities, &c. Prebuilt binaries might be nice, but I don't expect them for random projects. (and I wouldn't have used them if offered) I do think it's a reasonable expectation to be able to build software w/o essentially setting up a new userland just for that tool though. :)
- jeremyjh 5y ago
  I agree it leads to problems but isn't the entire purpose of `/usr/local` to be a dumping ground for locally administered (unpackaged) programs?
- gkfasdfasdf 5y ago
  The method I posted above doesn't write anything to /usr/local. Root isn't required. Everything is written under ~.
  - loxias 5y ago
    Whoa really? I'm sorry, and retract my ignorant assumption! Going to try it out now.
    - Wilfred 5y ago
      There are a few packages available, e.g. https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/difftastic https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/difftastic and https://pkgsrc.se/wip/difftastic https://pkgsrc.se/wip/difftastic. I've also had requests from Alpine Linux packagers to allow dynamic linking to parsers. This is something I want to support in future, once I'm happy with the basic diffing logic.

loxias 5y ago

Ah, well, if you're willing to accept having a frankensystem with a mix of packaged and unpackaged software, sure. ;) I used to do that, back in Slackware days. It's considered really sloppy and unmaintainable to admin a system like that. Things quickly get out of hand. That strategy _does_ work if you isolate it to a chroot or a container, but littering /usr/local with all sorts of locally compiled upstream is just asking for future pain. Security updates, library incompatibilities, &c. Prebuilt binaries might be nice, but I don't expect them for random projects. (and I wouldn't have used them if offered) I do think it's a reasonable expectation to be able to build software w/o essentially setting up a new userland just for that tool though. :)

jeremyjh 5y ago
I agree it leads to problems but isn't the entire purpose of `/usr/local` to be a dumping ground for locally administered (unpackaged) programs?
gkfasdfasdf 5y ago
The method I posted above doesn't write anything to /usr/local. Root isn't required. Everything is written under ~.
- loxias 5y ago
  Whoa really? I'm sorry, and retract my ignorant assumption! Going to try it out now.
  - Wilfred 5y ago
    There are a few packages available, e.g. https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/difftastic https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/difftastic and https://pkgsrc.se/wip/difftastic https://pkgsrc.se/wip/difftastic. I've also had requests from Alpine Linux packagers to allow dynamic linking to parsers. This is something I want to support in future, once I'm happy with the basic diffing logic.