Hi,

On 2026-06-30T13:41:16-0700, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> On 2026-06-30 03:39, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> > 
> > Hmmm, even with --diff-algorithm=patience it shows the diff too badly.
> > I've been trying, and --diff-algorithm=histogram shows a much nicer
> > diff.  I have the following in my gitconfig:
> > 
> > 	[diff]
> > 		algorithm = histogram
> > 
> > I suggest adding that to your gitconfig file.  It is implicitly also
> > used when you generate patches.  The histogram algorithm works quite
> > nicely (I've been using for a few years already).
> > 
> OK, I'll try that. I haven't played with the diff algorithms, perhaps because
> I naïvely assumed that the default would be the "currently best" algorithm and

The default is the fastest (I believe), but it's actually bad.  While
there are a few weird cases where the histogram algorithm fails badly,
it regularly results in better diffs.  :)

> ending up using a stale algorithm choice when a new one is introduced is
> unfortunate.

TBH, I don't know why they didn't change the default.


Cheers,
Alex

> 
> 	-hpa
> 

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>