[sword-devel] Comparing Verses

[DM Smith]

Chris Umphress wrote:
> On 1/17/06, DM Smith <dmsmith555 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>   
>> When Chris Umphress included the link
>>
>> http://kohl.wikimedia.org/~avar/gpl3/wdiff.html
>>
>> regarding the differences between GPL v2 and v3 (proposed) it got me thinking:
>>
>> "Is there any open source software that can be used to create a visually pleasant markup of the comparison of two verses?"
>>
>> Does anyone know of any?
>>
>> I don't care what language it is written in as it is the algorithm that is important.
>>     
>
> I found that link in a comment posted on Slashdot. Previously, I had
> not heard of (or gone looking for) a tool to generate differences on a
> word-by-word read-through. I believe this was the tool used:
>
> http://wdiff.progiciels-bpi.ca/showfile.html?mode=archives
>
> I haven't been able to compile it yet, but the source should have the algorithm.
Interesting. According to some documentation I read, it is a front end 
to GNU's diff. It takes kind of a brute force approach, putting the two 
inputs into temporary files with one word per line, running diff on that 
and then re-assembling the output. Development on it has stopped in '94 
at 0.5 with a beta release 0.5h in '99. Since diff is well defined and 
well known, this makes sense as a starting place.