README.md

i-hate-latex-diff

This is a latex-diff reimplementation but it works with my own paper.

./i-hate-latex-diff.py original-folder new-folder output-folder

All *.tex files in the original and new folder will be compared. output contains the same files except for the annotated changes. Afterwards just compile your paper with whatever cursed build system you're already suffering from. Note that all other files and the directory structure is preserved, so you can easily diff the output folder to see what the tool has annotated.

Usage

The script doesn't try to parse latex which is an unsolvable problem in computer science. Instead, it just does a plain diff on everything you changed between files and then annotates the changed tokens with the removedChange and addedChange commands.

Now, this also means this script doesn't know if you're in some cursed latex environment where these commands might misbehave or not compile. So, to avoid this you can (and should) place custom markers in your changed source code to disable diffing. You can do this like this:

Unchanged latex text here.
%diff-off
\minted{This stuff here changed but commands in minted don't work}
%diff-on
More unchanged latex text.

Available flags:

• --nodefine: Don't inject the default command definitions. You can add your own removedChange and addedChange definitions.

• --verbose: Spam your stdout. Has useful information, but it also emulates the LaTeX behavior of spamming my f**** screen with millions of pointless warnings.

Tests

Simply run:

./tests/test.py

Each test dir has a a directory for the old version, b or the new version, and an expected directory for the expected output.

FAQ

• Will this work on my paper? - no.
• What's wrong with latex-diff? - I can't answer this here without exceeding the git file size limitations.
• Why is this README so salty? - Because LaTeX was literally created in hell to punish humanity for creating the atom bomb or something like that.