Add functionality to select alternative diff algorithms

[berkanteber]

Problem description

There are many internal and external diff algorithms where each have pros and cons. However, currently there is no way to change the diff algorithm in Sublime Merge.

Preferred solution

Git already provides 4 diff algorithms and we can select one by setting diff.algorithm. Adhering to this selection as a default and providing a way to change algorithm somewhere in the diff view would be good.

Alternatives

The alternatives would be (i) only adhering to git configuration, or (ii) only provide a way to select alternative algorithms in diff view.

[sharpobject]

This would be sweet.

[VulumeCode]

I'd pay for this. I'd develop it for free if SM was open source.

[direc85]

Any news on this? I would like to use patience as it suits my project a lot better than myers...

[willrowe]

I would also really like to be able to use patience algorithm to avoid the preceding curly brace issue.

[Azeirah]

Would love this!

[jvican]

I think this is becoming more and more relevant for users. In my case, I'd like to integrate difftastic https://difftastic.wilfred.me.uk with Sublime Merge, because it's so much better than most of the current diff algorithms as it's structural, and very well executed on. It's a shame we cannot reuse it today in Sublime Merge. Seems like an area where we could let OSS tools innovate.

[estradanic]

Please, dear god, I am begging you.

[JGJP]

+1 for difftastic, amazing diff tool

[dpjohnst]

Hi all,

Thank you for your patience while this was implemented. This was added in Sublime Merge 2084 (and will be available in the next stable build too)! You can access this preference in the preferences dialog under Diffs > Text Diff Algorithm

As always, we'd love to hear if you have any thoughts/feedback on this feature!

Kind regards, - Dylan from Sublime HQ

[jvican]

I paid a Sublime Merge license due to this feature. Thank you.

[JGJP]

When will the next release be? Waiting for this to come to stable

[Azeirah]

When will the next release be? Waiting for this to come to stable

I recently read on the sublime forums that they want to approximately have 4 stable releases per year. So last stable release + 3 months?

[JGJP]

This was resolved in March so should be any second now I guess?

[JGJP]

This is released now but how do we use difftastic? The option is not there in the UI and setting it manually in the preferences doesn't seem to do anything

"diff_algorithm": "difft",

[dpjohnst]

Hi @JGJP,

We currently support selecting between the internal diff algorithms that Git supports. Support for third-party diff algorithms is something we'd really like to add, and will be working towards this in the future.

Kind regards, - Dylan from Sublime HQ

[JGJP]

@dpjohnst

Thanks for the update, looking forward to it