I spend a good part of my work time diffing code, and I'm a big fan of DiffMerge. It's cross-platform, and can handle scary merge conflicts well. It works particularly nicely on wide screens, like the massive LG UltraWide that Matterport gives to engineers (side note: this monitor is so large that I have to refocus my eyes at a different distance to read text on the edges of the screen. It was strange for a couple of days, and now I'm a big fan and will probably never go back. Like having a big screen on your phone).


To set this up, I have the following global git config:

[alias]

        d = difftool

[diff]

        tool = diffmerge

[difftool "diffmerge"]

        cmd = \"/usr/bin/diffmerge\" --nosplash \"$LOCAL\" \"$REMOTE\" 2>/dev/null

        prompt = false

[merge]

        tool = diffmerge

[mergetool "diffmerge"]

        cmd = \"/usr/bin/diffmerge\" --nosplash --merge --result=\"$MERGED\" \"$LOCAL\" \"$BASE\" \"$REMOTE\"

        trustExitCode = true

        keepBackup = false

Setting it up as a separate difftool is nice because I have flip between simple text diff and UI diff easily using an alias. So if I want a quick text view, I use

$ git diff master

If I want DiffMerge UI, I use the alias:

$ git d master