Kaleidoscope for git difftool

Question

I tried using kaleidoscope for git difftool to compare two branches.

So I installed ksdiff and setted it like follow in my .gitconfig

 [diff]
     tool = kaleidoscope
 [difftool "kaleidoscope"]
     cmd = ksdiff --changeset $(cd $(dirname "$LOCAL") && pwd)/$(basename "$LOCAL") $(cd $(dirname "$MERGED") && pwd)/$(basename "$MERGED")

when running

git difftool myBranch otherBranch 

I Receive the error cannot use duplicate files within the same file list

Solution

I found a way to configure it. In Kaleidoscope itself under Kaleidoscope menu there is a link called Integration which open a configuration window for several versioning solutions.

After installing ksdiff clicking on Configure button will add the following lines to your .gitconfig file.

[diff]
    tool = Kaleidoscope
[difftool "Kaleidoscope"]
  cmd = ksdiff --partial-changeset --relative-path \"$MERGED\" -- \"$LOCAL\" \"$REMOTE\"
[merge]
    tool = Kaleidoscope
[mergetool "Kaleidoscope"]
  cmd = ksdiff --merge --output \"$MERGED\" --base \"$BASE\" -- \"$LOCAL\" --snapshot \"$REMOTE\" --snapshot
  trustExitCode = true

then running the following command will open successively each different file

git difftool myBranch otherBranch  -y -t Kaleidoscope

--

Notes:

• -y stands to avoid prompting for asking if we want to use Kaleidoscope for difftool for each file. Default answer is "yes".
• -t Kaleidoscope is optionnal here as default difftool is already set to Kaleidoscope in our .gitconfig file.

Comments

[stigi]

In my case I also had to add [merge] tool = Kaleidoscope to my .gitconfig.

[Hadeer Zayat]

You can also use [difftool] prompt = false (and same for [mergetool]) in .gitconfig to always "avoid prompting for asking if we want to use Kaleidoscope for difftool for each file".