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User-visible changes in version 2.7:

* New diff option: --binary (useful only on non-Posix hosts)

* diff -b and -w now ignore line incompleteness; -B no longer does this.

* cmp -c now uses locale to decide which output characters to quote.

* Help and version messages are reorganized.

User-visible changes in version 2.6:

* New cmp, diff, diff3, sdiff option: --help

* A new heuristic for diff greatly reduces the time needed to compare

  large input files that contain many differences.

* Partly as a result, GNU diff's output is not exactly the same as before.

  Usually it is a bit smaller, but sometimes it is a bit larger.

User-visible changes in version 2.5:

* New cmp option: -v --version

User-visible changes in version 2.4:

* New cmp option: --ignore-initial=BYTES

* New diff3 option: -T --initial-tab

* New diff option: --line-format=FORMAT

* New diff group format specifications:

  <PRINTF_SPEC>[eflmnEFLMN]

      A printf spec followed by one of the following letters

      causes the integer corresponding to that letter to be

      printed according to the printf specification.

      E.g. `%5df' prints the number of the first line in the

      group in the old file using the "%5d" format.

	e: line number just before the group in old file; equals f - 1

	f: first line number in group in the old file

	l: last line number in group in the old file

	m: line number just after the group in old file; equals l + 1

	n: number of lines in group in the old file; equals l - f + 1

	E, F, L, M, N: likewise, for lines in the new file

  %(A=B?T:E)

      If A equals B then T else E.  A and B are each either a decimal

      constant or a single letter interpreted as above.  T and E are

      arbitrary format strings.  This format spec is equivalent to T if

      A's value equals B's; otherwise it is equivalent to E.  For

      example, `%(N=0?no:%dN) line%(N=1?:s)' is equivalent to `no lines'

      if N (the number of lines in the group in the the new file) is 0,

      to `1 line' if N is 1, and to `%dN lines' otherwise.

  %c'C'

      where C is a single character, stands for the character C.  C may not

      be a backslash or an apostrophe.  E.g. %c':' stands for a colon.

  %c'\O'

      where O is a string of 1, 2, or 3 octal digits, stands for the

      character with octal code O.  E.g. %c'\0' stands for a null character.

* New diff line format specifications:

  <PRINTF_SPEC>n

      The line number, printed with <PRINTF_SPEC>.

      E.g. `%5dn' prints the line number with a "%5d" format.

  %c'C'

  %c'\O'

      The character C, or with octal code O, as above.

* Supported <PRINTF_SPEC>s have the same meaning as with printf, but must

  match the extended regular expression %-*[0-9]*(\.[0-9]*)?[doxX].

* The format spec %0 introduced in version 2.1 has been removed, since it

  is incompatible with printf specs like %02d.  To represent a null char,

  use %c'\0' instead.

* cmp and diff now conform to Posix.2 (ISO/IEC 9945-2:1993)

  if the underlying system conforms to Posix:

  - Some messages' wordings are changed in minor ways.

  - ``White space'' is now whatever C's `isspace' says it is.

  - When comparing directories, if `diff' finds a file that is not a regular

    file or a directory, it reports the file's type instead of diffing it.

    (As usual, it follows symbolic links first.)

  - When signaled, sdiff exits with the signal's status, not with status 2.

* Now portable to hosts where int, long, pointer, etc. are not all the same

  size.

* `cmp - -' now works like `diff - -'.

User-visible changes in version 2.3:

* New diff option: --horizon-lines=lines

User-visible changes in version 2.1:

* New diff options:

  --{old,new,unchanged}-line-format='format'

  --{old,new,unchanged,changed}-group-format='format'

  -U

* New diff3 option:

  -A --show-all

* diff3 -m now defaults to -A, not -E.

* diff3 now takes up to three -L or --label options, not just two.

  If just two options are given, they refer to the first two input files,

  not the first and third input files.

* sdiff and diff -y handle incomplete lines.

User-visible changes in version 2.0:

* Add sdiff and cmp programs.

* Add Texinfo documentation.

* Add configure script.

* Improve diff performance.

* New diff options:

-x --exclude

-X --exclude-from

-P --unidirectional-new-file

-W --width

-y --side-by-side

--left-column

--sdiff-merge-assist

--suppress-common-lines

* diff options renamed:

--label renamed from --file-label

--forward-ed renamed from --reversed-ed

--paginate renamed from --print

--entire-new-file renamed from --entire-new-files

--new-file renamed from --new-files

--all-text removed

* New diff3 options:

-v --version

* Add long-named equivalents for other diff3 options.

* diff options -F (--show-function-line) and -I (--ignore-matching-lines)

  can now be given more than once.