In case someone is bored (heh) and looking for a user land bug to fix... Given this: printf '1\n2' >a printf '1\n2\n3' >b
Compare the output of diff -u a b with the output of diff -uw a b The former gives this: --- a Fri Aug 15 14:08:26 2014 +++ b Fri Aug 15 14:08:25 2014 @@ -1,2 +1,3 @@ 1 -2 \ No newline at end of file +2 +3 \ No newline at end of file Good enough. The latter however gives a diff that cannot be applied: --- a Fri Aug 15 14:08:26 2014 +++ b Fri Aug 15 14:08:25 2014 @@ -1,2 +1,3 @@ 1 2+ 3 ...with no newline on that last line of output. That's wrong: the -w option shouldn't break the output format. Philip Guenther
