[bug-diffutils] bug#21539: bug#21539: Feature: suppress timestamps in output

[Andreas Grünbacher]

2015-09-23 16:03 GMT+02:00 Ed Avis <address@hidden>:
> Sometimes it is useful to get deterministic results from diff, so that the 
> same input data produces the same output.
> I accept that the timestamps diff includes come from the input files 
> specified, not the time when diff was run, so in that sense they are 
> deterministic.
> But still it is awkward to have to touch(1) the input files or otherwise mess 
> around in order to guarantee that the same input contents produce the same 
> diff.
>
> Please consider a --no-timestamp flag which stops diff printing the timestamp 
> of the input files in the header of its output.

When diffing two files, you can use the --label option to set the file
names; this also overrides the timestamps.

Andreas