.














                              FHist




                        Reference Manual







                          Peter Miller

                    _m_i_l_l_e_r_p_@_c_a_n_b_._a_u_u_g_._o_r_g_._a_u



































.












This document describes FHist version 1.16
and was prepared 7 April 2026.






This document describing the FHist package, and the FHist package
itself, are
Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994,  1995,  1996,  1997,  1998,
1999,  2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Peter Miller; All
rights reserved.

This program is free software; you  can  redistribute  it  and/or
modify  it  under  the terms of the GNU General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; either  version  2  of
the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This  program  is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the  implied  warranty  of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foun-
ReadMe(FHist)                                                    ReadMe(FHist)



dation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA.

NNAAMMEE
       fhist - file history and comparison tools
       Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
       2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Peter Miller; All rights
       reserved.

       Portions of this program are
       Copyright (C) 1990 David I. Bell.

       The _f_h_i_s_t package is distributed under the terms of the GNU General
       Public License, see the _L_I_C_E_N_S_E section, below, for more information.

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       The FHist package contains 3 utilities, a file history tool ``_f_h_i_s_t'',
       a file comparison tool ``_f_c_o_m_p'', and a file merging tool ``_f_m_e_r_g_e'.
       All three are bundled together, because they all use the same minimal-
       difference algorithm.

       fhist
               Keeps track of versions of a file.  It works correctly when
               given binary files as input.  See _f_h_i_s_t(1) for more
               information.

       fcomp
               Compares two versions of a file, usually line-for-line textual
               comparison.  It is capable of comparing two binary files byte-
               for-byte.  See _f_c_o_m_p(1) for more information.

       fmerge
               Merges together edits from two descendants of a file.  See
               _f_m_e_r_g_e(1) for more information.

       The history tool presented here, fhist, is a _m_i_n_i_m_a_l history tool.  It
       provides no locking or branching.  This can be useful in contexts where
       the configuration management or change control be being provided by
       some other tool.

RREEFFEERREENNCCEESS
       This program is based on the algorithm in
              _A_n _O_(_N_D_) _D_i_f_f_e_r_e_n_c_e _A_l_g_o_r_i_t_h_m _a_n_d _I_t_s _V_a_r_i_a_t_i_o_n_s, Eugene W.
              Myers, TR 85-6, 10-April-1985, Department of Computer Science,
              The University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona 85721.
       See also:
              _A _F_i_l_e _C_o_m_p_a_r_i_s_o_n _P_r_o_g_r_a_m, Webb Miller and Eugene W. Myers,
              Software Practice and Experience, Volume 15, No. 11, November
              1985.

BBUUIILLDDIINNGG
       For complete instructions for host to build these programs, see the
       _B_U_I_L_D_I_N_G file included in this distribution.

AARRCCHHIIVVEE SSIITTEE
       The latest version of _f_h_i_s_t is available on the Web from:

                URL:    http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp/
                File:   fhist.html          # The FHist page.
                File:   fhist-1.16.README   # Description, from the tar file
                File:   fhist-1.16.lsm      # Description, in LSM format
                File:   fhist-1.16.spec     # RedHat package spec
                File:   fhist-1.16.tar.Z    # The complete source.
       FHist is also carried by sunsite.unc.edu in its Linux archives.  You
       will be able to find FHist on any of its mirrors.

                URL:    ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/devel/vc/
                File:   fhist-1.16.README   # Description, from the tar file
                File:   fhist-1.16.lsm      # Description, in LSM format
                File:   fhist-1.16.spec     # RedHat package spec
                File:   fhist-1.16.tar.Z    # The complete source.
       This site is extensively mirrored around the world, so look for a copy
       near you (you will get much better response).

CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
       fhist version 1.16.D005
       Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
       2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Peter Miller; All rights
       reserved.

       This program is derived from a work
       Copyright (C) 1990 David I. Bell.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
       option) any later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
       WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
       General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
       59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA.

AAUUTTHHOORRSS
       Peter Miller       Web:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp
       /\/\*           E-Mail:   millerp@canb.auug.org.au

       David I. Bell      Web:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~dbell

                       E-Mail:   dbell@canb.auug.org.au

RREELLEEAASSEE NNOOTTEESS
       For excruciating detail, and also acknowledgements of those who
       generously sent me feedback, please see the _e_t_c_/_C_H_A_N_G_E_S_._1_._1_6 file
       included in this distribution.

       A number of features and bug fixes have been added to _f_h_i_s_t with this
       release.  A few of them are detailed here:

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..1166 ((2200--DDeecc--22000055))
       * There is a new _f_m_e_r_g_e _-_i_g_n_o_r_e_-_i_d_e_n_t_i_c_a_l_-_c_o_n_f_l_i_c_t_s option which may be
       used to suppress logical conflicts in which the same thing is done by
       both variants. This is often a better match for users' expectations for
       merging source code.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..1155 ((88--NNoovv--22000055))
       * There is a new _f_c_o_m_p _-_n_o_-_b_i_n_a_r_y option, which may be used to prevent
       the comparison of binary files, instead it treats them both as empty.

       * A small build problem on MacOS X has been fixed.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..1144 ((88--JJuunn--22000044))
       * The ./configure script now understands the --with-nlsdir option, so
       that you can place the .mo files.

       * The _f_h_i_s_t(1) program is now able to cope with numeric modules names.

       * The occasional false negative from test 26 has been fixed.  It was
       failing for some users because of message translation
       (internationalization) issues.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..1133 ((1133--MMaarr--22000033))
       * A bug has been fixed in some of the tests.  They were susceptible to
       false negatives if the display width changed.

       * All references to the cuserid function have been replaced.  It isn't
       sufficiently portable to be used in real programs.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..1122 ((2288--NNoovv--22000022))
       * Some build problems have been fixed.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..1111 ((2266--NNoovv--22000022))
       * Some build problems, relating to modern ANSI C compilers choking on
       K&R function definitions with variable arguments, have been fixed.

       * Two bugs relating to the handling of binary files by _f_h_i_s_t(1) have
       been fixed.

       * A bug which left garbage files behind when a create failed has been
       fixed.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..1100 ((99--JJuull--22000022))
       * Interrupt handling has been improved.

       * There is a new _f_h_i_s_t _-_N_o___K_e_y_w_o_r_d_s option, used to completely disable
       keyword substitution.

       * Several build problems have been fixed.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..99 ((2233--OOcctt--22000011))
       No public release.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..88 ((1166--OOcctt--22000011))
       * There is a new --BBIINNaarryy option for the _f_c_o_m_p(1) program, which
       compares binary files a byte at time, printing the results in
       hexadecimal.

       * The _f_c_o_m_p(1) program now silently copes with CRLF line terminations.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..77 ((1111--AApprr--22000000))
       * The _f_h_i_s_t_(_1_) _c_o_m_m_a_n_d _n_o_w _h_a_s _a ----bbiinnaarryy _o_p_t_i_o_n_, _w_h_i_c_h _m_a_y _b_e _u_s_e_d _t_o
       _s_t_o_r_e _t_h_e _h_i_s_t_o_r_y _o_f _b_i_n_a_r_y _f_i_l_e_s_.

       * The _f_h_i_s_t(1) command has a new ----mmaakkee--ppaatthh option, which requests
       that the history directory be created if necessary.

       * A bug in _f_h_i_s_t(1) wich caused a SEGFAULT when you used the --tt option
       (extract to terminal) has been fixed.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..66 ((2255--OOcctt--11999999))
       * An RPM spec file has been added to the distribution.

       * The code is now more robust about what various UNIX systems return
       from pathconf().

       * A bug with the ``_f_c_o_m_p _-_b_l_a_n_k'' option has been fixed.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..55 ((11--JJuunn--11999999))
       * Binary files are now detected on input, and the utilities file
       gracefully with a warning or error message, as appropriate.

       * Some buffer over-run bugs have been fixed.

       * Several improvements have been made to the portability.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..44 ((1166--SSeepp--11999988))
       * The install and build procedures have been made more robust, and they
       take note of more of the information provided by GNU Autoconf.

       * The error messages have been internationalized, so it is now possible
       to obtain error messages in your native language.  (If you would like
       to contribute with error message translations, please contact the
       author.)

       * An LSM description has been added, along with a HTML page to present
       it all nicely at the archive site.

       * A RedHat Package Manager spec file has been added, so that a RedHat
       package can be created.  The spec file is in the standard distribution.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..33 ((2299--MMaarr--11999988))
       This version was not distributed  at all.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..22
       This version was not distributed very widely.

       * The non-standard isblank function is no longer used, it cause too
       many portability problems.

       * The use of pathconf is not more robust for more operating systems.

   VVeerrssiioonn 11..11
       * The _f_h_i_s_t package now uses a shell script called _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e to
       configure itself.  This script is generated using the _G_N_U _A_u_t_o_c_o_n_f
       utility.  This should make _f_h_i_s_t significantly easier to configure, and
       significantly more portable.

       * A bug has been fixed in the conflict reporting of the _f_m_e_r_g_e program.
       It now correctly opens the conflicts file.

       * The _f_h_i_s_t program now uses _p_a_t_h_c_o_n_f(2) to determine file name length
       limits.



Building(FHist)                                                Building(FHist)



NNAAMMEE
       fhist - file history and comparison tools
       Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
       2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Peter Miller; All rights
       reserved.

       Portions of this program are
       Copyright (C) 1990 David I. Bell.

       The _f_h_i_s_t package is distrributed under the terms of the GNU General
       Public License, see the _L_I_C_E_N_S_E section, below, for more information.

SSPPAACCEE RREEQQUUIIRREEMMEENNTTSS
       You will need about 600K to unpack and build the _f_h_i_s_t package.  (This
       is the worst case seen so far, most systems have binaries about 60% as
       big as this, 400K is more typical.)  Your mileage may vary.

BBEEFFOORREE YYOOUU SSTTAARRTT
       There are a few pieces of software you may want to fetch and install
       before you proceed with your installation of cook.

       GNU Gettext
               The _f_h_i_s_t package has been internationalized.  It can now print
               error messages in any of the supported languages.  In order to
               do this, the GNU Gettext package must be installed _b_e_f_o_r_e you
               run the configure script as detailed in the next section.  This
               is because the configure script looks for it.  On systems which
               use the GNU C library, version 2.0 or later, there is no need
               to explictly do this as GNU Gettext is included.  Remember to
               use the GNU Gettext configure _-_-_w_i_t_h_-_g_n_u_-_g_e_t_t_e_x_t option if your
               system has native gettext tools.

       GNU Groff
               The documentation for the _f_h_i_s_t package was prepared using the
               GNU Groff package.  This distribution includes full
               documentation, which may be processed into PostScript or DVI
               files at install time - if GNU Groff has been installed.

       Bison   If your operating system does not have a native _y_a_c_c(1) you
               will need to fetch and install GNU Bison in order to build the
               _f_h_i_s_t package.

       An ANSI C compiler.
               You must have an ANSI C compiler to compile this program.  You
               may also want to consider fetching and installing the GNU C
               Compiler if you have not done so already.

       The GNU FTP archives may be found at prep.ai.mit.edu, and are mirrored
       around the world.

SSIITTEE CCOONNFFIIGGUURRAATTIIOONN
       The ffhhiisstt package is configured using the _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e shell script
       included in this distribution.

       The _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e shell script attempts to guess correct values for various
       system-dependent variables used during compilation, and creates the
       _M_a_k_e_f_i_l_e and _c_o_m_m_o_n_/_c_o_n_f_i_g_._h files.  It also creates a shell script
       _c_o_n_f_i_g_._s_t_a_t_u_s that you can run in the future to recreate the current
       configuration.

       Normally, you just _c_d to the directory containing _f_h_i_s_t's source code
       and type
              % ..//ccoonnffiigguurree
              _._._._l_o_t_s _o_f _o_u_t_p_u_t_._._.
              %
       If you're using _c_s_h on an old version of System V, you might need to
       type
              % sshh ccoonnffiigguurree
              _._._._l_o_t_s _o_f _o_u_t_p_u_t_._._.
              %
       instead to prevent _c_s_h from trying to execute _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e itself.

       Running _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e takes a minute or two.  While it is running, it
       prints some messages that tell what it is doing.  If you don't want to
       see the messages, run _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e with its standard output redirected to
       _/_d_e_v_/_n_u_l_l; for example,
              % ./configure > /dev/null
              %

       By default, _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e will arrange for the _m_a_k_e _i_n_s_t_a_l_l command to
       install the ffhhiisstt package's files in _/_u_s_r_/_l_o_c_a_l_/_b_i_n and _/_u_s_r_/_l_o_c_a_l_/_m_a_n.
       There are a number of options which control the placement of these
       files.

       --prefix=_P_A_T_H
               You can specify an installation prefix other than _/_u_s_r_/_l_o_c_a_l by
               giving _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e the option --prefix=_P_A_T_H.

       --exec-prefix=_P_A_T_H
               You can specify separate installation prefixes for
               architecture-specific files and architecture-independent files.
               If you give _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e the option --exec-prefix=_P_A_T_H the ffhhiisstt
               package will use _P_A_T_H as the prefix for installing programs and
               libraries.  Data files and documentation will still use the
               regular prefix.  Normally, all files are installed using the
               same prefix.

       --bindir=_P_A_T_H
               This directory contains executable programs.  On a network,
               this directory may be shared between machines with identical
               hardware and operating systems; it may be mounted read-only.
               Defaults to _$_{_e_x_e_c___p_r_e_f_i_x_}_/_b_i_n unless otherwise specified.

       --datadir=_P_A_T_H
               This directory contains installed data, such as the
               documentation, reports and shell scripts distributed with
               Aegis.  On a network, this directory may be shared between all
               machines; it may be mounted read-only.  Defaults to
               _$_{_p_r_e_f_i_x_}_/_s_h_a_r_e_/_a_e_g_i_s unless otherwise specified.  An ``aegis''
               directory will be appended if there is none in the specified
               path.

       --libdir=_P_A_T_H
               This directory contains installed data, such as the error
               message catalogues.  On a network, this directory may be shared
               between machines with identical hardware and operating systems;
               it may be mounted read-only.  Defaults to
               _$_{_e_x_e_c___p_r_e_f_i_x_}_/_l_i_b_/_a_e_g_i_s unless otherwise specified.  An
               ``aegis'' directory will be appended if there is none in the
               specified path.

       --mandir=_P_A_T_H
               This directory contains the on-line manual entries.  On a
               network, this directory may be shared between all machines; it
               may be mounted read-only.  Defaults to _$_{_p_r_e_f_i_x_}_/_m_a_n unless
               otherwise specified.

       --with-nlsdir=_P_A_T_H
               This directory contains machine specific message catalogues.
               Defaults to --libdir if not set.

       _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e ignores any other arguments that you give it.

       On systems that require unusual options for compilation or linking that
       the _f_h_i_s_t package's _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script does not know about, you can give
       _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e initial values for variables by setting them in the
       environment.  In Bourne-compatible shells, you can do that on the
       command line like this:
              $ CCCC==''ggcccc --ttrraaddiittiioonnaall'' LLIIBBSS==--llppoossiixx ..//ccoonnffiigguurree
              _._._._l_o_t_s _o_f _o_u_t_p_u_t_._._.
              $
       Here are the _m_a_k_e variables that you might want to override with
       environment variables when running _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e.

       Variable: CC
               C compiler program.  The default is _c_c.

       Variable: INSTALL
               Program to use to install files.  The default is _i_n_s_t_a_l_l if you
               have it, _c_p otherwise.

       Variable: LIBS
               Libraries to link with, in the form -l_f_o_o -l_b_a_r.  The _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e
               script will append to this, rather than replace it.

       Variable: NLSDIR
               This works the same way as the --with-nlsdir option.

       If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, the author
       encourages you to figure out how _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e could check whether to do
       them, and mail diffs or instructions to the author so that they can be
       included in the next release.

BBUUIILLDDIINNGG FFHHIISSTT
       All you should need to do is use the
              % mmaakkee
              _._._._l_o_t_s _o_f _o_u_t_p_u_t_._._.
              %
       command and wait.  When this finishes you should see a directory called
       _b_i_n containing four files: _f_c_o_m_p, _f_h_i_s_t, _f_m_e_r_g_e and _t_x_t_2_c.

       ffccoommpp   The _f_c_o_m_p program is user to compare two text files.

       ffhhiisstt   The _f_h_i_s_t program is used to maintain and edit history of a
               text file.

       ffmmeerrggee  The _f_m_e_r_g_e program is used to merge together edits from two
               descendants of a file.

       ttxxtt22cc   The _t_x_t_2_c program is a utility used to build the _f_h_i_s_t package;
               it is not intended for general use and should not be installed.

       You can remove the program binaries and object files from the source
       directory by using the
              % mmaakkee cclleeaann
              _._._._l_o_t_s _o_f _o_u_t_p_u_t_._._.
              %
       command.  To remove all of the above files, and also remove the
       _M_a_k_e_f_i_l_e and _c_o_m_m_o_n_/_c_o_n_f_i_g_._h and _c_o_n_f_i_g_._s_t_a_t_u_s files, use the
              % mmaakkee ddiissttcclleeaann
              _._._._l_o_t_s _o_f _o_u_t_p_u_t_._._.
              %
       command.

       The file _e_t_c_/_c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e_._i_n is used to create _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e by a GNU program
       called _a_u_t_o_c_o_n_f.  You only need to know this if you want to regenerate
       _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e using a newer version of _a_u_t_o_c_o_n_f.

TTEESSTTIINNGG FFHHIISSTT
       The _f_h_i_s_t package is accompanied by a test suite.  To run this test
       suite, use the following command:
              % mmaakkee ssuurree
              _._._._l_o_t_s _o_f _o_u_t_p_u_t_._._.
              %

       This is successful if the last line of the test output reads "Passed
       All Tests".

       Please let the author know if any of the tests fail, and why if you can
       work that out.

IINNSSTTAALLLLIINNGG FFHHIISSTT
       As explained in the _S_I_T_E _C_O_N_F_I_G_U_R_A_T_I_O_N section, above, the _f_h_i_s_t
       package is installed under the _/_u_s_r_/_l_o_c_a_l tree by default.  Use the
       --prefix=_P_A_T_H option to _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e if you want some other path.

       All that is required to install the _f_h_i_s_t package is to use the
              % mmaakkee iinnssttaallll
              _._._._l_o_t_s _o_f _o_u_t_p_u_t_._._.
              %
       command.  Control of the directories used may be found in the first few
       lines of the _M_a_k_e_f_i_l_e file if you want to bypass the _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script.

       The above procedure assumes that the _s_o_e_l_i_m(1) command is somewhere in
       the command search _P_A_T_H.  The _s_o_e_l_i_m(1) command is available as part of
       the _G_N_U _R_o_f_f package, mentioned previously in the _P_R_I_N_T_E_D _M_A_N_U_A_L_S
       section.  If you don't have it, but you do have the _c_o_o_k package, then
       a link from _r_o_f_f_p_p to _s_o_e_l_i_m will also work.

       The above procedure also assumes that the _$_(_p_r_e_f_i_x_)_/_m_a_n_/_m_a_n_1 and
       _$_(_p_r_e_f_i_x_)_/_m_a_n_/_m_a_n_5 directories already exist.  If they do not, you will
       need to _m_k_d_i_r them manually.

PPRRIINNTTEEDD MMAANNUUAALLSS
       The easiest way to get copies of the manuals is to get the
       _f_h_i_s_t_._1_._1_6_._p_d_f file from the archive site.  This is an Adobe AcroRead
       file containing the Reference Manual, which contains the README file,
       the BUILDING file and internationalization notes, as well as all of the
       manual pages for all of the commands.

       This distribution contains the sources to all of the documentation for
       _f_h_i_s_t.  The author used the GNU groff package and a postscript printer
       to prepare the documentation.  If you do not have this software, you
       will need to substitute commands appropriate to your site.

       If you have the GNU Groff package installed _b_e_f_o_r_e you run the
       _c_o_n_f_i_g_u_r_e script, the _M_a_k_e_f_i_l_e will contain instructions for
       constructing the documentation.  If you already used the _m_a_k_e command,
       above, this has already been done.  The following command
              %% make doc
              _._._._l_o_t_s _o_f _o_u_t_p_u_t_._._.
              %%
       can be used to do this explicitly, if you managed to get to this point
       without doing it.  Please note that there may be some warnings from
       groff, particularly about missing fonts, particularly for the .txt
       files; this is normal.

       Once the documents have been formatted, you only need to print them.
       The following command
              %% lpr lib/en/reference.ps
              %%
       will print the English PostScript version of the Reference Manual.
       Watch the _m_a_k_e output to see what other versions are available.

CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
       fhist version 1.16.D005
       Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
       2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Peter Miller; All rights
       reserved.

       This program is derived from a work
       Copyright (C) 1990 David I. Bell.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
       option) any later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
       WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
       General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
       59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA.

AAUUTTHHOORRSS
       Peter Miller       Web:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp
       /\/\*           E-Mail:   millerp@canb.auug.org.au

       David I. Bell      Web:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~dbell
                       E-Mail:   dbell@canb.auug.org.au



Internationalization(FHist)                        Internationalization(FHist)



NNAAMMEE
       Internationalization

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       The FHist package has gone international; it can now speak many
       languages.  This is accomplished by using the GNU Gettext library and
       utilities.  In order to do this, is is necessary to install GNU Gettext
       prior to configuring, making and installing the FHist package, as
       described in the _B_U_I_L_D_I_N_G file.

   IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaalliizzaattiioonn
       This is the process of identifying all of the error messages in the
       source code, and providing error message catalogues in a variety of
       languages.  The error message identification was performed by the FHist
       package's author, and the various GNU translation teams provided the
       translations.  Users of the FHist package do not need to do anything to
       internationalize it, this has already been done.

   LLooccaalliizzaattiioonn
       The programs in the FHist package are "localizable" when properly
       installed; the programs they contain can be made to speak your own
       native language.

       By default, the FHist package will be installed to allow translation of
       messages.  It will automatically detect whether the system provides a
       usable `gettext' function.

IINNSSTTRRUUCCTTIIOONNSS FFOORR UUSSEERRSS
       As a user, if your language has been installed for this package, you
       only have to set the `LANG' environment variable to the appropriate ISO
       639 two-letter code prior to using the programs in the package.  For
       example, let's suppose that you speak German.  At the shell prompt,
       merely execute
              setenv LANG de
       (in `csh'), or
              LANG=de; export LANG
       (in `sh').  This can be done from your _._c_s_h_r_c or _._p_r_o_f_i_l_e file, setting
       this automatically each time you login.

       An operating system might already offer message localization for many
       of its programs, while other programs have been installed locally with
       the full capabilities of GNU Gettext.  Using the GNU Gettext extended
       syntax for the `LANG' environment variable may break the localization
       of already available through the operating system.  In this case, users
       should set both the `LANGUAGE' and `LANG' environment variables, as
       programs using GNU Gettext give preference to the `LANGUAGE'
       environment variable.

       For example, some Swedish users would rather read translations in
       German when Swedish is not available.  This is easily accomplished by
       setting `LANGUAGE' to `sv:de' while leaving `LANG' set to `sv'.

DDIIRREECCTTOORRYY SSTTRRUUCCTTUURREE
       All files which may require translation are located below the _l_i_b
       directory of the source distribution.  It is organized as one directory
       below _l_i_b for each localization.  Localizations include all
       documentation as well as the error messages.

   LLooccaalliizzaattiioonn DDiirreeccttoorryy NNaammeess
       Each localization is contained in a sub-directory of the _l_i_b directory,
       with a unique name.  Each localization sub-directory has a name of the
       form:
localization +--------+
 -------------_l-_a-_n-_g-_u-_a-_g-_e--------------------------------------------------
                         +   -   +-------+  +    +    + -+------+   +
                          ----- --_t-_e-_r-_r-_i-_t-_o-_r-_y---       --+. ---_c-_o-_d-_e-_s-_e-_t---


       _l_a_n_g_u_a_g_e  is one of the 2-letter names from the ISO 639 standard.  See
                 _h_t_t_p_:_/_/_w_w_w_._i_c_s_._u_c_i_._e_d_u_/_p_u_b_/_i_e_t_f_/_h_t_t_p_/_r_e_l_a_t_e_d_/_i_s_o_6_3_9_._t_x_t for a
                 list.

       _t_e_r_r_i_t_o_r_y is one of the 2-letter country codes from the ISO 3166
                 standard.  See _f_t_p_:_/_/_r_s_._i_n_t_e_r_n_i_c_._n_e_t_/_n_e_t_i_n_f_o_/_-
                 _i_s_o_3_1_6_6_-_c_o_u_n_t_r_y_c_o_d_e_s for a list.

       _c_o_d_e_s_e_t   is one of the codeset names defined in RFC 1345.  This
                 simplifies the task of moving localizations between charsets,
                 because GNU Recode understands them.  See
                 _h_t_t_p_:_/_/_i_n_f_o_._i_n_t_e_r_n_e_t_._i_s_i_._e_d_u_/_1_s_/_i_n_-_n_o_t_e_s_/_r_f_c_/_f_i_l_e_s_/_-
                 _r_f_c_1_3_4_5_._t_x_t for a list.

       Here are some examples of localization names:

                      +---------------------------------------+
                      |   Name             Description        |
                      +---------------------------------------+
                      |en.ascii      English, ASCII encoding  |
                      |en_us.ascii   English with US spelling |
                      |de.latin1     German, Latin-1 encoding |
                      +---------------------------------------+
   LLooccaalliizzaattiioonn DDiirreeccttoorryy CCoonntteennttss
       Each localization sub-directory in turn contains sub-directories.
       These are:

                    +-------------------------------------------+
                    | Directory              Contents           |
                    +-------------------------------------------+
                    |LC_MESSAGES   The error message (PO) files |
                    |building      The BUILDING file            |
                    |man1          The section 1 manual entries |
                    |readme        The README file              |
                    |building      The BUILDING file            |
                    |reference     The Reference Manual         |
                    +-------------------------------------------+
       The structure is identical below each of the localization directories.
       The sub-directories of all localizations will have the same names.

IINNSSTTRRUUCCTTIIOONNSS FFOORR TTRRAANNSSLLAATTOORRSS
       When translating the error messages, all of the substitutions described
       in _c_o_o_k___s_u_b(5) are also available.  Substitution variable names and
       function names may be abbreviated, in the same way that command line
       options are abbreviated, but abbreviation should probably be avoided.
       Substitution names will _n_e_v_e_r be internationalized, otherwise the
       substitutions will stop working, Catch-22.

       While FHist was written by an English speaker, the English localization
       is necessary, to translate the ``terse programmer'' style error
       messages into something more user friendly.

       Messages which include command line options need to leave the command
       line options untranslated, because they are not yet internationalized,
       though they may be one day.

       Each LC_MESSAGES directory within each localization contains a number
       of PO files.  There is one for each program in the FHist package, plus
       one called common.po containing messages common to all of them.  The MO
       file for each program is generated by naming the program specific PO
       file and also the common PO file.



fcomp(1)                                                              fcomp(1)



NNAAMMEE
       fcomp - file compare

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       ffccoommpp [ _o_p_t_i_o_n...  ] _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_1 _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e_2

       ffccoommpp --HHeellpp

       ffccoommpp --VVEERRSSiioonn

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       The _f_c_o_m_p program is used to compare text files, similar to the _d_i_f_f(1)
       program.  Its advantage is that it always produces minimal differences,
       and so will never mis-sync when comparing files.  Its disadvantage is
       that it runs slower due to the extra work required to produce optimal
       differences.  However, for files differing by less than a few thousand
       lines, its performance is adequate.  The algorithms used by this
       utility are also used by the _f_h_i_s_t(1) program in order to produce the
       edit history.

       To compare file _o_l_d to file _n_e_w, the command:
              fcomp old new
       would be used.  This gives the differences involved in converting ffrroomm
       file _o_l_d ttoo file _n_e_w.  This is analogous to the use of the _c_p(1)
       command.  Either the _o_l_d or _n_e_w file may be a directory, in which case
       the comparison is done to the file in the directory with the same name
       as the other file.  An error is given if _o_l_d and _n_e_w are both
       directories.

OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       The following options are understood:

       --BBIINNaarryy This option may be used to compare binary files on a byte-for-
               byte basis.  (Each byte is treated as a ``line'' by the
               algorithm.)  Byte values are displayed in hexadecimal, as are
               the addresses.  Note: this is different behaviour to the
               _f_h_i_s_t(1) option of the same name.

       --NNoo__BBIINNaarryy
               This option may be used to avoid comparing binary files.  A
               warnign will be prointed on the standard error, but the program
               will report success without printing andy other output.

       --BBllaannkk
               Ignore blank lines in the input files.

       --CCoonntteexxtt _n_u_m_b_e_r
               This specifies the number of lines of "context" which is
               displayed.  This shows the specified number of lines before and
               after the actual lines being changed.  This is useful to locate
               and identify the line which is actually being changed, when
               there are many identical copies of the line in the file.

       --EEddiitt
               Output an edit script which is machine readable.

       --FFaaiilluurreess _n_u_m_b_e_r
               This stops the comparison if the number of changes exceeds the
               specified number.  Each change is a delete or insert of a
               single line.  This is useful when you are not interested in the
               results when the files are totally different.  Another use is a
               quick check to see if two files are identical, by using a value
               of zero.

       --HHeellpp
               Give some help on how to use the _f_c_o_m_p program.

       --JJooiinn _n_u_m_b_e_r
               This merges together lines which have changed, if they are
               separated by up to the specified number of unchanged lines.
               This makes a change look bigger, but reduces the "choppiness"
               of the output by showing fewer regions being changed.  This is
               particularly effective to suppress worthless matchings of
               single blank lines or comment beginning and ending lines.  A
               useful value for this option is 3 or so.

       --MMaattcchhiinngg
               Output matching lines, rather then changed lines.

       --NNuummbbeerr
               This outputs the line numbers at the left edge of the output.
               This isn't normally needed, since the line numbers are
               displayed in the comment line preceding the lines being
               displayed.  Not outputting the line numbers prevents the
               terminal from needlessly scrolling for long lines.

       --OOuuttppuutt _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
               Send the output to this file, rather than the standard output.

       --QQuuiieett
               Output only a quick summary of changes needed.

       --SSppaacceess
               This option ignores differences in the number of spaces in the
               two lines.  That is, two or more adjacent spaces are handled as
               a single space.  Spaces at the beginning or end of a line are
               totally ignored.

       --UUppccaassee
               Uppercase lines before comparing.

       --VVEERRSSiioonn
               Show what version of _f_c_o_m_p is running.

       --WWhhaatt
               This outputs all of both files together, showing what happened
               to each line of the first file in order to change to the line
               in the second file.  This output is in "change bar" format,
               where inserted lines begin with ||++, deleted lines begin with
               ||--, and unchanged lines begin with spaces.  The presence of the
               vertical bar makes it easy to search for the changed lines.

       All options may be abbreviated; the abbreviation is documented as the
       upper case letters, all lower case letters and underscores (_) are
       optional.  You must use consecutive sequences of optional letters.

       All options are case insensitive, you may type them in upper case or
       lower case or a combination of both, case is not important.

       For example: the arguments "-help, "-HELP" and "-h" are all interpreted
       to mean the --HHeellpp option.  The argument "-hlp" will not be understood,
       because consecutive optional characters were not supplied.

       Options and other command line arguments may be mixed arbitrarily on
       the command line.

       The GNU long option names are understood.  Since all option names for
       _f_c_o_m_p are long, this means ignoring the extra leading '-'.  The
       "----_o_p_t_i_o_n==_v_a_l_u_e" convention is also understood.

FFIILLEE NNAAMMEE EEXXPPAANNSSIIOONN
       As a convenience, if a pathname begins with a period and a environment
       variable exists with that name, then the value of the environment
       variable will be used as the actual pathname.  For example, if a
       environment variable of _._F_O_O has the value _t_h_i_s_._i_s_._a_._l_o_n_g_._n_a_m_e, then
       the command
              fcomp -o .FOO
       is actually equivilant to the command
              fcomp -o this.is.a.long.name
       If you want to prevent the expansion of a pathname which begins with a
       period, then you can use an alternate form for the pathname, as in:
              fcomp -o ./.FOO

BBIINNAARRYY FFIILLEESS
       In general, fcomp can handle all text files you throw at it, even
       international text with unusual encodings.  However, fcomp is _u_n_a_b_l_e to
       cope elegantly with files which contain the NUL character.

       The _f_c_o_m_p(1) program simply prints a warning, and continues, you need
       to know that it converts NUL characters into an 0x80 value before
       performing the comparison.

       The _f_m_e_r_g_e(1) program also converts the NUL character to an 0x80 value
       before merging, after a warning, and any output file will contain this
       value, rather than the original NUL character.

       The _f_h_i_s_t(1) program, however, generates a fatal error if any input
       file contains NUL characters.  This is intended to protect your source
       files for unintentional corruption.  Use ----BBIINNaarryy for files which
       absolutely must contain NUL characters.

EEXXIITT SSTTAATTUUSS
       The _f_c_o_m_p program will exit with a status of 1 on any error.  The _f_c_o_m_p
       program will only exit with a status of 0 if there are no errors.

RREEFFEERREENNCCEESS
       This program is based on the algorithm in
              _A_n _O_(_N_D_) _D_i_f_f_e_r_e_n_c_e _A_l_g_o_r_i_t_h_m _a_n_d _I_t_s _V_a_r_i_a_t_i_o_n_s, Eugene W.
              Myers, TR 85-6, 10-April-1985, Department of Computer Science,
              The University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona 85721.
       See also:
              _A _F_i_l_e _C_o_m_p_a_r_i_s_o_n _P_r_o_g_r_a_m, Webb Miller and Eugene W. Myers,
              Software Practice and Experience, Volume 15, No. 11, November
              1985.

CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
       fcomp version 1.16.D005
       Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
       2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Peter Miller; All rights
       reserved.

       This program is derived from a work
       Copyright (C) 1990 David I. Bell.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
       option) any later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
       WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
       General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
       59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA.

AAUUTTHHOORRSS
       Peter Miller       Web:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp
       /\/\*           E-Mail:   millerp@canb.auug.org.au

       David I. Bell      Web:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~dbell
                       E-Mail:   dbell@canb.auug.org.au



fhist(1)                                                              fhist(1)



NNAAMMEE
       fhist - file history

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       ffhhiisstt _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e...  _o_p_t_i_o_n...

       ffhhiisstt --HHeellpp

       ffhhiisstt --VVEERRSSiioonn

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       The _f_h_i_s_t program is used to keep track of the successive versions of a
       file.  Using this program, you can remember all of your changes to a
       file, and get back any one of the old versions.  The uses of this
       ability are:

       1.  You can make a series of tentative edits to the file, and if
           necessary back up to the last "good" edit.

       2.  You can delete old subroutines and code from your file which are
           obsolete, but still be able to get them back in the future in case
           a need for them arises.

       3.  You can compare two versions of the file to see how you fixed some
           old problem, so that you can check up on the correctness of the fix
           at a later date.

       4.  You get a record of your remarks for each version, so that you can
           quickly know what bugs were fixed, and what features were
           implemented.

       5.  The date the file was last edited can be automatically stored in
           the file.

       The _f_h_i_s_t program manipulates modules.  A module is simply any text
       file that you are interested in keeping versions of.  For example, a
       source file _d_o_i_t_._c is a module, and so is a documentation file
       _h_o_w_t_o_._d_o_c.  The module name includes the suffix of the file (as in the
       above examples).  However, pathnames are not part of a module name, so
       that _/_u_s_r_/_d_b_e_l_l_/_b_a_r_._c cannot be a legal module name.  A module name is
       limited to 12 characters since the _f_h_i_s_t program needs two extra
       characters for its own purpose.

   KKeeyywwoorrdd SSuubbssttiittuuttiioonn
       It is possible to have information about the state of the file inserted
       into the file.  See the --MMooddiiffyy and --NNoo--KKeeyywwoorrddss options, below, for
       more infromation.

OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       The following options are understood:

       --PPaatthh _p_a_t_h_n_a_m_e
               Modules are stored in a directory, called the module storage
               directory.  The default directory is _F_H_I_S_T, and therefore is
               located relative to your current directory.  This is convenient
               when you are in a directory containing many modules, and you
               want a local storage directory to contain just those modules.
               If you use the --pp option, then you can locate the storage
               directory anywhere you choose.  This is useful if you choose to
               have a common storage directory for all of your files,
               independent of where they actually are used.

               The files inside of the storage directory should not be changed
               by you.  Doing so will probably corrupt your edit history,
               causing errors when you extract old revisions.  For your
               information, though, each module is stored as two files in the
               directory.  The one with the _._s suffix is a copy of the newest
               version of the module, with one extra line at the beginning.
               The one with the _._e suffix is the edit history of the module,
               and contains the information needed to extract previous
               revisions of the module.  Thus if the edit history is ever
               corrupted, you will at least have the most recent version of
               the module.

       --MMaaKKee__PPaatthh
               This option may be used to request that the path directory be
               created automatically if it does not yet exist.  This works for
               both the directory specified by the -Path option, and for the
               default.  Intermediate directories will also be created if
               necessary.

       --BBIINNaarryy This option may be used to specify that the file is binary,
               that it may contain NUL characters.  It is essential that you
               have consistent presence or absence of the --BBIINNaarryy option for
               each file when combined with the --CCRReeaattee, --UUppddaattee,
               --CCoonnddiittiioonnaall__UUppddaattee and --EExxttrraacctt options.  Failure to do so
               will produce inconsistent results.  Note: this is different
               behaviour to the _f_c_o_m_p(1) option of the same name.  Note: the
               --BBIINNaarryy option does _n_o_t imply the --NNoo--KKeeyywwoorrddss option.

       --CCRReeaattee
               To use the _f_h_i_s_t program for the first time, you need to create
               your storage directory.  Therefore, _c_d to the directory where
               you want it to be, which is probably the directory containing
               the modules you want to save the revisions of.  Then create the
               directory _F_H_I_S_T (or some other name if you don't want to use
               the default name).

               To start using a module under _f_h_i_s_t, you must first use the
               --CCRReeaattee option.  This creates the initial edit for that module
               in the storage directory, with the contents of the specified
               module as the initial edit.  Thus, if you have a source file
               _p_r_o_g_._c, then the command:
                      fhist prog.c -create
               creates the initial edit of the module.  As part of this
               process, you are asked to provide remarks about the file.
               These remarks can be seen later using the --LLiisstt option
               (described below).  After the remarks have been typed, the
               contents of the file are then saved.  You can then delete the
               file _p_r_o_g_._c if desired, and _f_h_i_s_t would be able to recreate it
               later.  Or you can leave it there as the working copy of the
               module.

               The --CCRReeaattee option may be combined with the --UUppddaattee or
               --CCoonnddiittiioonnaall__UUppddaattee options to create the file if required.

       --UUppddaattee
               To save another revision of the module, you use the --UUppddaattee
               option.  This updates the files in the storage directory to
               include the latest changes.  Remarks are again asked for so
               that you can document why you made this edit.  Thus, to
               continue the example, after editing _p_r_o_g_._c, the command:
                      fhist prog.c -u
               will save the changes as a new edit.  This command compares the
               newest version of the module to the previous version, saves the
               differences in the _._e file, and copies the new source to the _._s
               file.  At this point, you can once again delete the _p_r_o_g_._c file
               if desired, and later get back either of the two versions of
               the program.

               The _f_h_i_s_t program handles quota or disk full problems during a
               create or update operation without damage occurring to the edit
               history files.  If an edit cannot be completed because of such
               problems, the edit is backed out completely, and you will get
               an error message about the disk problem.  There is no need for
               any error recovery in this case, other than retrying the update
               when more disk space is available.  The _f_h_i_s_t program also
               disables signals during the critical file operations, so you do
               not have to worry about damaging the edit history files because
               of attempts to quit out of the program.

               The --CCRReeaattee option may be combined with the --UUppddaattee or
               --CCoonnddiittiioonnaall__UUppddaattee options to create the file if required.

       --IInnppuutt _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
               In either the --CCRReeaattee or --UUppddaattee options, the file containing
               the new version of the module defaults to the same name as the
               module.  In the example, the module _p_r_o_g_._c was created and
               updated from the data in the file _p_r_o_g_._c.  When you wish the
               data to come from some other file, you can use the --IInnppuutt
               option, which specifies the input file to use for the data.
               For example, if you wanted to update _p_r_o_g_._c, but from a
               filename called _n_e_w_p_r_o_g_._c, then the command:
                      fhist prog.c -u -i newprog.c
               would save a new revision of module _p_r_o_g_._c, but with the data
               that was in the file _n_e_w_p_r_o_g_._c.  In this case, the file _p_r_o_g_._c
               does not have to exist, and isn't referenced even if it did
               exist.  Again, once the update is complete, you could delete
               the _n_e_w_p_r_o_g_._c file if desired and then later you can retrieve
               its contents.

       --RReemmaarrkkss
               Remarks can be read from a file instead of from the terminal.
               The --RReemmaarrkkss option can be used to specify a file name
               containing the remarks.  If there is no file name following the
               --RReemmaarrkkss option, then no remarks at all are used.  The command:
                      fhist prog.c -u -r
               would create a new revision of _p_r_o_g_._c without asking for or
               saving any remarks about the edit.

       --RReemmaarrkk__SSttrriinngg _t_e_x_t
               It is also possible to specify the remarks directly on the
               command line.  You may only use this option once.

       --EExxttrraacctt [ _e_d_i_t ]
               To retrieve a previous revision of a module, you specify the
               name of the module and use the --EExxttrraacctt option to specify the
               edit number you want retrieved.  Edit numbers are assigned
               sequentially starting with 1.  Thus the initial version of the
               module has edit number 1, the first revision has edit number 2,
               and so on until the latest revision.  If the --EExxttrraacctt option is
               not used, or if no edit number is supplied for it, then the
               latest edit number is extracted.  Therefore, this is the
               default action if no options at all are specified.

               Edit numbers can also be zero, negative, or be a name with an
               optional offset.  The number zero represents the latest edit
               number, and negative numbers indicate edit numbers backwards
               from the latest edit number.  Edit names represent edit numbers
               whose name had been set by using the --NNaammee option.  For
               example, if edit number 10 was associated with the name _f_o_o,
               then the edit name _f_o_o represents 10, _f_o_o_-_4 represents edit
               number6, and _f_o_o_+_2 represents edit number 12.  The special
               reserved names _o_l_d_e_s_t and _n_e_w_e_s_t refer to the oldest and newest
               versions of the module in the edit history.

               As an example of retrievals, assume that you have saved ten
               versions of the module _p_r_o_g_._c.  The following commands will
               then extract the versions of the file with the specified edit
               numbers:

               fhist prog.c
                       version 10 (the latest)

               fhist prog.c -e 9
                       version 9 (the version just prior)

               fhist prog.c -e oldest
                       version 1 (the oldest version)

               fhist prog.c -e -2
                       version 8 (latest version - 2)

               The output filename is again defaulted to the module name.  So
               when the module _p_r_o_g_._c is extracted, the specified version of
               the module is written to the _p_r_o_g_._c file.

               In order to prevent accidental overwriting of a file, the _f_h_i_s_t
               program will by default ask you if overwriting is permitted if
               that would occur.  A common mistake is to edit _p_r_o_g_._c, and then
               try to update the module, but forget to specify the --uu option.
               Then the _f_h_i_s_t program would try to extract the newest version
               of the module, and thus overwrite the file with the new
               changes.  Asking the question allows you to notice your
               mistake, and prevent the overwriting.

       --OOuuttppuutt _f_i_l_e_n_a_m_e
               You can change the output filename using the --OOuuttppuutt option.
               Thus, the command:
                      fhist prog.c -o newprog.c
               will extract the latest version of the module _p_r_o_g_._c, and put
               it into the file _n_e_w_p_r_o_g_._c.  Once again, the file "prog.c" is
               ignored, whether or not it existed.

       --FFoorrccee__WWrriittee
               This option will force overwriting of the file, thus never
               asking you if overwriting is permitted.  This is often useful
               in shell scripts, or when you are _s_u_r_e that you want to
               overwrite any existing file.

       --NNoo__WWrriittee
               This option is the no-overwrite option, and will cause any
               existing files to _n_o_t be overwritten, again without asking you.
               This is useful if you already have some of the modules in your
               directory, and you want to extract the rest of the modules
               without overwriting the ones you already have.  Specifying both
               --FFoorree__WWrriittee and --NNoo__WWrriittee is an error.

       --TTeerrmmiinnaall [ _e_d_i_t ]
               This option is used to output an extracted module to the
               standard output, instead of writing it to a file.  This is
               useful in order to view the beginning of a version of the file.
               This can be interrupted if you do not want to see the whole
               file.

       --MMooddiiffyy _n_u_m_b_e_r
               When extracting a file, the _f_h_i_s_t program looks for and updates
               special character sequences in the first few lines of the file.
               These special sequences are used for documentation purposes,
               such as describing the edit number the file is from.  For speed
               of extraction and updating, these sequences are usually limited
               to the first 25 lines of the file, since the _f_h_i_s_t program then
               does not have to examine the entire file.  The --MMooddiiffyy option
               can be used to change the number of lines to be modified from
               the default value of 25.  Specifying zero totally disables the
               special character sequences, whereas specifying a very large
               number will cause the sequences to be checked for each line of
               the file (and thus slow the _f_h_i_s_t program down).

               Each special sequence is of the form [[## kkeeyywwoorrdd vvaalluuee,, kkeeyywwoorrdd
               vvaalluuee,, ......,, kkeeyywwoorrdd vvaalluuee ##]] ,, where each _k_e_y_w_o_r_d describes an
               item, and each _v_a_l_u_e is the value for the preceding keyword.
               The keywords can be in upper or lower case, or both.  The
               single space following the [[##, following each comma, and
               preceding the ##]] must be present.  If the sequence is wrong, an
               unknown keyword is used, the line is longer than 200
               characters, or more than four keywords are used, then the whole
               line will not be changed.  The current keywords which can be
               used are the following:

               edit    The edit number

               date    The date that the edit was created

               user    The user name of the user who created the edit

               module  The module name

               In order to use this special character sequence, you simply
               insert it into your module inside of a comment (within the
               first few lines).  When this is done, the value parts of the
               sequence can be null.  For example, if you want to put a
               special sequence into a program called _d_e_l_e_t_e_._c, then you could
               edit the first few lines as follows:
                      /*
                       * Delete - program to delete files
                       * [# Edit, Date #]
                       */
               When an extract is done, the proper edit number and date are
               automatically inserted as the new values.  Thus, if you extract
               edit 23 of the module _d_e_l_e_t_e_._c which had been created on 8
               August 89, then the resulting file would begin:
                      /*
                       * Delete - program to delete files
                       * [# Edit 23, Date 8-Aug-89 #]
                       */

               When updating a module, it is never necessary to edit these
               sequences, as any old values will be removed and replaced with
               the new ones.  Also, when using the --dd or --dduu options
               (described below), lines with these sequences compare as if the
               values were null, and thus will not cause spurious differences.

               During an update, the special character sequences are read and
               any edit value found is compared against the current edit
               number of the module.  If they differ, then the update fails.
               This provides an interlock check for the case of two users
               extracting the same version of a file, editing it, and then
               both updating it without knowledge of each other.  In this
               case, the second user would fail, and then he can merge his
               edits with the previous user's edit and then retry the update.
               This checking is disabled if there is no special character
               sequence containing the edit keyword, the edit number value is
               null, or if the --FFoorrcceedd__UUppddaattee option is used to indicate that
               the check is not needed.

       --NNoo__KKeeyywwoorrddss
               This option may be used to disable the use of the keyword
               special character sequences described above.  Text containing
               keyword sequences is treated as plain text.  Note: the
               --NNoo__KKeeyywwoorrddss option does _n_o_t imply the --BBIINNaarryy option.

       --NNaammee _s_t_r_i_n_g
               This option is used to associate a name for the newest version
               of a module.  It can be given along with the --CCRReeaattee, --UUppddaattee,
               or --DDiiffffeerreennccee__UUppddaattee options, to specify a name for the new
               version of the module.  It can also be given by itself in order
               to specify a name for the newest version of a module.  Each
               edit number can have many names associated with it, so this
               will not remove any previously defined name for the edit.  This
               option is useful to correlate many modules together.  For
               example, when a new version of a program is ready to be
               released, you could give each module of the program the same
               name _r_e_l_e_a_s_e_1.  Then in the future, you can recreate the
               sources making up that release by extracting the edits with the
               name _r_e_l_e_a_s_e_1 for every module.  Edit names cannot begin with a
               digit, and cannot contain plus or minus signs.  These rules
               prevent ambiguous parsing of edit numbers for the --EExxttrraacctt,
               --TTeerrmmiinnaall, --AALLLL, and --LLiisstt options.

       --LLiisstt [ _e_d_i_t_1 [ _e_d_i_t_2 ]]
               This option prints a list of edits for the module, giving the
               user name, date, user remarks, and names specified for the
               edits.  If no edit number is supplied, then all edits are
               printed in reverse order.  If a single edit number is supplied,
               then only that edit number is printed.  If two edit numbers are
               supplied, then all edits in the specified range are printed.
               The output from this option defaults to the terminal.  You can
               use the --OOuuttppuutt option to save the results to a file.

       --DDiiffffeerreennccee [ _e_d_i_t_1 [ _e_d_i_t_2 ]]
               This option is used to display the differences between two
               versions of a module, or a file and a version of a module.
               There are three modes for this action, depending on how many
               edit numbers are supplied.  These modes are illustrated by the
               following examples:

               fhist foo.c -d
                       Compare latest version against file "foo.c"

               fhist foo.c -d 3
                       Compare version 3 against file "foo.c"

               fhist foo.c -d 3 4
                       Compare version 3 against version 4

               This option accepts the --IInnppuutt option to specify the file to be
               compared.  When using the --DDiiffffeerreennccee option, the output
               defaults to the terminal.  Therefore, you must use --OOuuttppuutt if
               you wish the differences saved to a file.  Using --QQuuiicckk with
               --DDiiffffeerreennccee will only output a quick summary of the changes,
               instead of the detailed changes.  This summary only supplies
               the number of lines inserted, deleted, and unchanged between
               the files.  Using --WWhhaatt with --DDiiffffeerreennccee will display all of
               both files, showing in detail what the differences are using
               change bars.

               The --DDiiffffeerreennccee option may need to write one or two temporary
               files in order to extract old versions of a module to be
               compared.  These files have names like _T_$_n___n_n_n _.  They are
               deleted again just before differences are output, so that
               stopping the output before it is complete will not leave these
               files around.  The temporary files are usually written to the
               current directory.  If this is not reasonable because of
               permission or quota problems, then you can specify the
               directory for writing the temporary files into.  This is done
               by defining the _T_M_P_D_I_R environment variable to be the path of
               the directory.

       --DDiiffffeerreennccee__UUppddaattee
               This option combines the effects of the --DDiiffffeerreennccee and --UUppddaattee
               options.  It displays the differences between a file and the
               latest version of a module.  If there are any differences, it
               then proceeds to perform an update of the module with that
               file, asking for remarks as usual.  This option is very useful
               when used with wildcarded module names.  Then you can update
               just those modules which were changed by an edit session, and
               see the changes for each module before typing the appropriate
               remark for each module.

               You may specify both of the --DDiiffffeerreennccee and --UUppddaattee options, or
               you may use this option.  The results are identical.

       --CCoonnddiittiioonnaall__UUppddaattee
               This option conditionally updates a module.  That is, it will
               only do an update if there are any differences between a file
               and the latest version of a module.  This is convenient when
               related changes are made to many modules in a directory, and
               one command using wildcards can update just those modules that
               were changed.

               The --CCRReeaattee option may be combined with the --UUppddaattee or
               --CCoonnddiittiioonnaall__UUppddaattee options to create the file if required.

       --CCLLeeaann
               This option is used to remove files which match the newest
               versions of modules.  If a file exists which matches the newest
               version of a module, then the file is deleted, otherwise it is
               kept.  This option is used to clean up a work directory after
               building a new version of a product.  This option is especially
               useful when used with the --AALLLL option.  It will also accept the
               --IInnppuutt option to specify a directory containing the files to be
               cleaned.

       --CCHHeecckk
               This option is used to find out if a file does not match the
               latest version of a module.  If so, a message is given.  If the
               file does match, no output occurs.  This option is thus useful
               to determine which files have been modified and in need of
               updating.  The --AALLLL option is defaulted for this option, since
               it is usually used for all modules.  For example,
                      fhist -CHeck
               will report on all files which are different than the latest
               modules.  If --QQuuiicckk is specified, then the output will consist
               of the module names with no other output.  This is useful for
               the backquote operator in shell scripts for referencing the
               modules which are out of date.  The --CCHHeecckk option will also
               accept the --IInnppuutt option.

       --PPRRuunnee _e_d_i_t
               This option is used to permanently remove early edits from an
               edit history.  This is useful if you wish to cut down on the
               amount of disk space taken by an edit history file, or when you
               want to start another release of a file, and want a copy of the
               edit history file for that new release.  The option takes an
               edit number to preserve, and all edits in the edit history file
               before that edit are deleted, and can no longer be referenced.
               For example, to keep only the current edit plus the previous 10
               edits of the module _f_i_l_e, you could use the command:
                      fhist file -prune -10
               Since the --PPRRuunnee option is unrecoverable (unless backup files
               are available), the _f_h_i_s_t program asks the user to verify that
               the prune is really wanted.  The --FFoorrcceedd__UUppddaattee option can be
               used to bypass this verification.

       --AALLLL
               This option can be used with any of the action options.  It
               means perform the operation for all modules in the module
               storage directory.  Alternatively, you can specify multiple
               module names on the command line, and the actions will be
               performed with those modules.  You cannot specify both --AALLLL and
               module names.

               When using multiple modules or the --AALLLL option, the --IInnppuutt and
               --OOuuttppuutt options have a slightly different meaning.  In these
               cases, the --IInnppuutt and --OOuuttppuutt arguments are a directory name
               which contains filenames with the same name as the module
               names.  If the argument is not a directory, then an error is
               given.  This feature is useful for example, to extract all the
               modules and place them into some remote directory, as in:
                      fhist -all -e -o tempdir

               You should be careful when specifying numeric edit numbers for
               multiple modules.  Most probably, a particular edit number is
               not appropriate for multiple modules, since changes
               corresponding to a particular edit number are not usually
               related.  Using named edits avoids these problems.  As an
               example, if you wanted to extract every module which had an
               edit that was named _r_e_v_3, then you could use the command:
                      fhist -all -e rev3

               Some other useful examples of commands which use multiple
               modules are:
                      fhist *.c -create
                      fhist -check -all
                      fhist -cu -all

       --VVeerrbboossee
               This option can be specified with any other action, and outputs
               status information about the progress of the action.  This is
               useful for debugging of problems, or just for amusement when
               the system is slow or a large file is being processed.  It
               accepts a numeric argument to indicate the verbosity for
               output.  The levels are as follows:

               0   No output at all (except for errors).

               1   Single-line output describing action (default).

               2   Detailed status as action proceeds.

       --HHeellpp
               Give some help on how to use the _f_h_i_s_t program.

       --VVEERRSSiioonn
               Show what version of _f_h_i_s_t is running.

       All options may be abbreviated; the abbreviation is documented as the
       upper case letters, all lower case letters and underscores (_) are
       optional.  You must use consecutive sequences of optional letters.

       All options are case insensitive, you may type them in upper case or
       lower case or a combination of both, case is not important.

       For example: the arguments "-help, "-HELP" and "-h" are all interpreted
       to mean the --HHeellpp option.  The argument "-hlp" will not be understood,
       because consecutive optional characters were not supplied.

       Options and other command line arguments may be mixed arbitrarily on
       the command line.

       The GNU long option names are understood.  Since all option names for
       _f_h_i_s_t are long, this means ignoring the extra leading '-'.  The
       "----_o_p_t_i_o_n==_v_a_l_u_e" convention is also understood.

FFIILLEE NNAAMMEE EEXXPPAANNSSIIOONN
       As a convenience, if a pathname begins with a period and a environment
       variable exists with that name, then the value of the environment
       variable will be used as the actual pathname.  For example, if a
       environment variable of _._F_O_O has the value _t_h_i_s_._i_s_._a_._l_o_n_g_._n_a_m_e, then
       the command
              fhist -o .FOO
       is actually equivilant to the command
              fhist -o this.is.a.long.name
       If you want to prevent the expansion of a pathname which begins with a
       period, then you can use an alternate form for the pathname, as in:
              fhist -o ./.FOO

BBIINNAARRYY FFIILLEESS
       In general, fhist can handle all text files you throw at it, even
       international text with unusual encodings.  However, fhist is _u_n_a_b_l_e to
       cope elegantly with files which contain the NUL character.

       The _f_c_o_m_p(1) program simply prints a warning, and continues, you need
       to know that it converts NUL characters into an 0x80 value before
       performing the comparison.

       The _f_m_e_r_g_e(1) program also converts the NUL character to an 0x80 value
       before merging, after a warning, and any output file will contain this
       value, rather than the original NUL character.

       The _f_h_i_s_t(1) program, however, generates a fatal error if any input
       file contains NUL characters.  This is intended to protect your source
       files for unintentional corruption.  Use ----BBIINNaarryy for files which
       absolutely must contain NUL characters.

EEXXIITT SSTTAATTUUSS
       The _f_h_i_s_t program will exit with a status of 1 on any error.  The _f_h_i_s_t
       program will only exit with a status of 0 if there are no errors.

RREEFFEERREENNCCEESS
       This program is based on the algorithm in
              _A_n _O_(_N_D_) _D_i_f_f_e_r_e_n_c_e _A_l_g_o_r_i_t_h_m _a_n_d _I_t_s _V_a_r_i_a_t_i_o_n_s, Eugene W.
              Myers, TR 85-6, 10-April-1985, Department of Computer Science,
              The University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona 85721.
       See also:
              _A _F_i_l_e _C_o_m_p_a_r_i_s_o_n _P_r_o_g_r_a_m, Webb Miller and Eugene W. Myers,
              Software Practice and Experience, Volume 15, No. 11, November
              1985.

CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
       fhist version 1.16.D005
       Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
       2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Peter Miller; All rights
       reserved.

       This program is derived from a work
       Copyright (C) 1990 David I. Bell.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
       option) any later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
       WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
       General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
       59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA.

AAUUTTHHOORRSS
       Peter Miller       Web:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp
       /\/\*           E-Mail:   millerp@canb.auug.org.au

       David I. Bell      Web:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~dbell
                       E-Mail:   dbell@canb.auug.org.au



GPL(GNU)                   Free Software Foundation                   GPL(GNU)



                             GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
                                Version 2, June 1991

       Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
       59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
       Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
       license document, but changing it is not allowed.

                                      Preamble

       The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom
       to share and change it.  By contrast, the GNU General Public License is
       intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
       software--to make sure the software is free for all its users.  This
       General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
       Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
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       Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the
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       To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone
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       For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis
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       We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
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       Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
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       Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents.
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       The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
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                             GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
           TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

       0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a
       notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
       under the terms of this General Public License.  The "Program", below,
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       Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
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       1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's source
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       You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
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       c)  If the modified program normally reads commands interactively when
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       These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole.  If
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       collective works based on the Program.

       In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
       with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of a
       storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under the
       scope of this License.

       3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
       under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
       Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:

       a)  Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
           source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections
           1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software
           interchange; or,

       b)  Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years,
           to give any third party, for a charge no more than your cost of
           physically performing source distribution, a complete machine-
           readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be distributed
           under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily
           used for software interchange; or,

       c)  Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to
           distribute corresponding source code.  (This alternative is allowed
           only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the
           program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in
           accord with Subsection b above.)

       The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
       making modifications to it.  For an executable work, complete source
       code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
       associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control
       compilation and installation of the executable.  However, as a special
       exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that
       is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the
       major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system
       on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies
       the executable.

       If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access
       to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent access to
       copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the
       source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the
       source along with the object code.

       4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
       except as expressly provided under this License.  Any attempt otherwise
       to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will
       automatically terminate your rights under this License.  However,
       parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this
       License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties
       remain in full compliance.

       5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
       signed it.  However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
       distribute the Program or its derivative works.  These actions are
       prohibited by law if you do not accept this License.  Therefore, by
       modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the
       Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and
       all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying the
       Program or works based on it.

       6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
       Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
       original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
       these terms and conditions.  You may not impose any further
       restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
       You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
       this License.

       7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
       infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
       conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
       otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
       excuse you from the conditions of this License.  If you cannot
       distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this
       License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you
       may not distribute the Program at all.  For example, if a patent
       license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by
       all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then
       the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to
       refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.

       If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under
       any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to
       apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other
       circumstances.

       It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
       patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any
       such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
       integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
       implemented by public license practices.  Many people have made
       generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
       through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
       system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing
       to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot
       impose that choice.

       This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
       be a consequence of the rest of this License.

       8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
       certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
       original copyright holder who places the Program under this License may
       add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those
       countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries
       not thus excluded.  In such case, this License incorporates the
       limitation as if written in the body of this License.

       9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions
       of the General Public License from time to time.  Such new versions
       will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in
       detail to address new problems or concerns.

       Each version is given a distinguishing version number.  If the Program
       specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any
       later version", you have the option of following the terms and
       conditions either of that version or of any later version published by
       the Free Software Foundation.  If the Program does not specify a
       version number of this License, you may choose any version ever
       published by the Free Software Foundation.

       10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
       programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the
       author to ask for permission.  For software which is copyrighted by the
       Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we
       sometimes make exceptions for this.  Our decision will be guided by the
       two goals of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free
       software and of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.

                                     NO WARRANTY

       11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO
       WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.
       EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR
       OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
       EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
       WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
       THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS
       WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF
       ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

       12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
       WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY
       AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU
       FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
       CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE
       PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING
       RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A
       FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF
       SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
       DAMAGES.

                             END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
               Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

       If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
       possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
       free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
       terms.

       To do so, attach the following notices to the program.  It is safest to
       attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey
       the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the
       "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

           < one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it
           does.  >
           Copyright (C) 19yy < name of author >

           This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
           modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
           published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
           License, or (at your option) any later version.

           This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
           WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
           MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
           General Public License for more details.

           You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
           along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
           Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111,
           USA.

       Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper
       mail.

       If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
       when it starts in an interactive mode:

           Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19yy name of author
           Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type
           `show w'.  This is free software, and you are welcome to
           redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c' for
           details.

       The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the
       appropriate parts of the General Public License.  Of course, the
       commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show
       c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your
       program.

       You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
       school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
       necessary.  Here is a sample; alter the names:

           Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the
           program `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by
           James Hacker.

           < signature of Ty Coon, > 1 April 1989
           Ty Coon, President of Vice

       This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program
       into proprietary programs.  If your program is a subroutine library,
       you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary
       applications with the library.  If this is what you want to do, use the
       GNU Library General Public License instead of this License.



fmerge(1)                                                            fmerge(1)



NNAAMMEE
       fmerge - merge files

SSYYNNOOPPSSIISS
       ffmmeerrggee [ _o_p_t_i_o_n...  ] _b_a_s_e_f_i_l_e _f_i_l_e_A _f_i_l_e_B

       ffmmeerrggee --HHeellpp

       ffmmeerrggee --VVEERRSSiioonn

DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
       The _f_m_e_r_g_e program is used to compare the changes between two different
       descendants of a base file, and creates an output file which contains
       both sets of changes.  This is useful when two users both take the same
       version of a file and make independent edits to it, and then later want
       to create a file which contains both sets of edits.  In such a use, the
       original file that both sets of edits is derived from is called the
       _b_a_s_e _f_i_l_e.  The two files containing the edits are called _f_i_l_e _A and
       _f_i_l_e _B.

       The command:
              fmerge basefile fileA fileB -o outputfile
       produces the output file which contains the edits contained in _f_i_l_e _A
       and _f_i_l_e _B, based on the _b_a_s_e _f_i_l_e _.  If the --OOuuttppuutt option was not
       used, or if no outputfile is specified, then the merged lines are typed
       to the standard output.  The order of specifying _f_i_l_e _A _a_n_d _f_i_l_e _B is
       usually unimportant.

       The _f_m_e_r_g_e program can also be used to remove earlier edits made to a
       module.  To do this, make the version containing the edits you want to
       delete be the basefile.  Make the version previous to the edit you want
       deleted be file A.  Finally, make the most recent version of the file
       which contains the other edits (including the one you want deleted) be
       file B.  Then the result of merging will be the newest version of the
       module minus the changes made by the edit you wanted removed.  For
       example, if three successive versions of some module have the names
       _e_d_i_t_1_0, _e_d_i_t_1_1 and _e_d_i_t_1_2, and you want the changes done by _e_d_i_t_1_1 to
       be undone, but still want the changes done by _e_d_i_t_1_2, then you use the
       command:
              fmerge edit11 edit10 edit12 -o outputfile

       While merging the two sets of edits, fmerge may discover conflicts.  A
       conflict occurs when the same line of the base file is changed by both
       of the two sets of edits.  The change can be due to new lines being
       inserted, lines being deleted, or both.  When conflicts occur, the
       output file contains conflict identification lines, which are lines
       containing the string _'_/_-_/_-_/_-_/_'.  These lines indicate the region where
       the two sets of edits are incompatible.  You must then edit the output
       file and remove these lines, and in addition correct the conflicts
       manually in order to produce the correct result.

OOPPTTIIOONNSS
       The following options are understood:

       --CCoonnfflliiccttss [ _c_o_n_f_l_i_c_t_f_i_l_e ]
               Since conflicts due to deletions are invisible in the output
               file, and inserts do not specify which of the two edits
               inserted the lines, there is an alternative output format from
               the _f_m_e_r_g_e program.  This output format describes what happens
               to each line of the base file, so that conflicts are easier to
               detect and fix.  The command:
                      fmerge basefile fileA fileB -c conflictfile
               produces the file describing the results of the merge in
               detail.  If the --CCoonnfflliiccttss option is specified without any
               conflictfile name, then the conflicts are send to the standard
               output.

               If there are conflicts, and the --CCoonnfflliiccttss options is not
               specified, the _f_m_e_r_g_e program will exit with a status of 1.

               The conflict file contains lines which contain three characters
               and then some text.  The first three characters describe what
               is happening to the base file at that point.  These characters
               are the following:

                      IA      This line was inserted by file A.

                      DA      This line was deleted by file A.

                      IB      This line was inserted by file B.

                      DB      This line was deleted by file B.

                      <blanks>
                              This line is unchanged.

                      X       This is a conflict identification line.

                      U       There are unspecified unchanged lines here.

               Each set of conflicts is flagged by three identification lines.
               The first line indicates the beginning of the conflict, and
               specifies the line numbers for the base file and two divergent
               files.  The second conflict identification line separates lines
               changed by file A from lines changed by file B.  The third
               conflict identification indicates the end of the conflict.

               You can edit this conflict file to remove the conflicts.  This
               involves deleting the conflict identification lines, and
               changing the conflicting lines as necessary to fix the
               conflict.  While doing this, remember to leave three blank
               characters at the front of any new lines you insert while
               correcting the conflicts.  When you are done, there should be
               no lines which begin with an 'X' in the file.  All other lines
               can remain.  Then you can use the command:
                      fmerge conflictfile -o outputfile
               to create the new output file which has the desired data.  Once
               again, if no _-_O_u_t_p_u_t option or outputfile is used, the output
               is send to the standard output.

       --UUnncchhaannggeedd _n_u_m_b_e_r
               Besides physical conflicts, there can be logical conflicts.
               These are changes made to different lines in the base file such
               that the program is no longer correct.  Such conflicts cannot
               be detected by a program, and so these must be checked
               manually.  In order to make this process easier, the --UUnncchhaannggeedd
               option can be used to reduce the size of the conflict file to
               only include regions near changed lines.  This file can then be
               examined in order to detect possible logical conflicts.  As an
               example, the command:
                      fmerge basefile fileA fileB -c -u 3
               will send to the standard output all changes made by either
               sets of edits, with only three unchanged lines surrounding each
               edit.

               When using the --UUnncchhaannggeedd option, the conflict file will
               contain lines starting with 'U'.  These represent unchanged
               lines, and the number following the letter is the number of
               unchanged lines.  The resulting conflict file cannot be read to
               produce an output file because of the missing lines.  If this
               is attempted, an error will be generated.

               It is possible to use both --OOuuttppuutt and --CCoonnfflliiccttss in the same
               command.  Thus you can produce the output file which you hope
               is correct, and also produce the conflict file which you can
               use to check for logical conflicts.

       --VVeerrbboossee [ _n_u_m_b_e_r ]
               This option can be specified with any other action, and outputs
               status information about the progress of the action.  This is
               useful for debugging of problems, or just for amusement when
               the system is slow or a large file is being processed.  It
               accepts a numeric argument to indicate the verbosity for
               output.  The levels are as follows:

               0   No output at all (except for errors).

               1   Single-line output describing action (default).

               2   Detailed status as action proceeds.

       --FFaaiilluurreess _n_u_m_b_e_r
               This option restricts the number of physical conflicts that are
               allowed before failing.  This is used if you are not interested
               in the results if there are too many conflicts.

       --HHeellpp
               Give some help on how to use the _f_m_e_r_g_e program.

       --IIggnnoorree
               Ignore all conflicts.

       --IIggnnoorree__IIddeennttiiccaall__CCoonnfflliiccttss
               The option may be used to suppress conflicts which make
               identical deletes, or identical inserts, or identical changes.
               This is often desirable when merging two source code branches.

       --VVEERRSSiioonn
               Show what version of _f_m_e_r_g_e is running.

       All options may be abbreviated; the abbreviation is documented as the
       upper case letters, all lower case letters and underscores (_) are
       optional.  You must use consecutive sequences of optional letters.

       All options are case insensitive, you may type them in upper case or
       lower case or a combination of both, case is not important.

       For example: the arguments "-help, "-HELP" and "-h" are all interpreted
       to mean the --HHeellpp option.  The argument "-hlp" will not be understood,
       because consecutive optional characters were not supplied.

       Options and other command line arguments may be mixed arbitrarily on
       the command line.

       The GNU long option names are understood.  Since all option names for
       _f_m_e_r_g_e are long, this means ignoring the extra leading '-'.  The
       "----_o_p_t_i_o_n==_v_a_l_u_e" convention is also understood.

FFIILLEE NNAAMMEE EEXXPPAANNSSIIOONN
       As a convenience, if a pathname begins with a period and a environment
       variable exists with that name, then the value of the environment
       variable will be used as the actual pathname.  For example, if a
       environment variable of _._F_O_O has the value _t_h_i_s_._i_s_._a_._l_o_n_g_._n_a_m_e, then
       the command
              fmerge -o .FOO
       is actually equivilant to the command
              fmerge -o this.is.a.long.name
       If you want to prevent the expansion of a pathname which begins with a
       period, then you can use an alternate form for the pathname, as in:
              fmerge -o ./.FOO

BBIINNAARRYY FFIILLEESS
       In general, fmerge can handle all text files you throw at it, even
       international text with unusual encodings.  However, fmerge is _u_n_a_b_l_e
       to cope elegantly with files which contain the NUL character.

       The _f_c_o_m_p(1) program simply prints a warning, and continues, you need
       to know that it converts NUL characters into an 0x80 value before
       performing the comparison.

       The _f_m_e_r_g_e(1) program also converts the NUL character to an 0x80 value
       before merging, after a warning, and any output file will contain this
       value, rather than the original NUL character.

       The _f_h_i_s_t(1) program, however, generates a fatal error if any input
       file contains NUL characters.  This is intended to protect your source
       files for unintentional corruption.  Use ----BBIINNaarryy for files which
       absolutely must contain NUL characters.

EEXXIITT SSTTAATTUUSS
       The _f_m_e_r_g_e program will exit with a status of 1 on any error.  The
       _f_m_e_r_g_e program will only exit with a status of 0 if there are no
       errors.

RREEFFEERREENNCCEESS
       This program is based on the algorithm in
              _A_n _O_(_N_D_) _D_i_f_f_e_r_e_n_c_e _A_l_g_o_r_i_t_h_m _a_n_d _I_t_s _V_a_r_i_a_t_i_o_n_s, Eugene W.
              Myers, TR 85-6, 10-April-1985, Department of Computer Science,
              The University of Arizona, Tuscon, Arizona 85721.
       See also:
              _A _F_i_l_e _C_o_m_p_a_r_i_s_o_n _P_r_o_g_r_a_m, Webb Miller and Eugene W. Myers,
              Software Practice and Experience, Volume 15, No. 11, November
              1985.

CCOOPPYYRRIIGGHHTT
       fmerge version 1.16.D005
       Copyright (C) 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
       2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Peter Miller; All rights
       reserved.

       This program is derived from a work
       Copyright (C) 1990 David I. Bell.

       This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
       under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
       Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
       option) any later version.

       This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
       WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
       MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
       General Public License for more details.

       You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
       with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
       59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA.

AAUUTTHHOORRSS
       Peter Miller       Web:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~millerp
       /\/\*           E-Mail:   millerp@canb.auug.org.au

       David I. Bell      Web:   http://www.canb.auug.org.au/~dbell
                       E-Mail:   dbell@canb.auug.org.au



Table of Contents(FHist)                              Table of Contents(FHist)



         The README File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   0
         Release Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
         How to Build the Sources  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
         Internationalization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
fcomp(1) compare two files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
fhist(1) record file modification history  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
fhist_lic(1)                                                               GNU General Public License 15
fmerge(1)                                                                  merge competing file edits 18



Permuted Index(FHist)                                    Permuted Index(FHist)



fcomp(1)    10                fcomp - file   compare
fcomp(1)    10                               fcomp - file compare
fhist(1)    11                               fhist - file history
fcomp(1)    10                     fcomp -   file compare
fhist(1)    11                     fhist -   file history
fmerge(1)   18              fmerge - merge   files
fmerge(1)   18                               fmerge - merge files
fhist(1)    11                fhist - file   history
fmerge(1)   18                    fmerge -   merge files



Reference Manual                     FHist                              -xviii
