Make non-full file view the default

[jhoermann]

Problem
So currently the default is the full file view (which make sense in some cases) but the default for most diff-tools is the cut off version of the file. Only the changed lines are shown e.g. Github:

Solution
Make it the default to only view changes lines with an option to show the full file.

[umputun]

the "why" here is unclear. "other diff tools do it this way" isn't really a reason, and honestly github isn't a great benchmark for reviews, it's hard to make sense of isolated hunks there with only minimal surrounding context.

revdiff isn't a generic diff tool, it's a review tool that happens to work with diffs. the full-file-with-context default is intentional, and the whole design is built around one goal: helping decide whether the changes under review make sense in the context of the full source code. annotating any line, showing code in context, syntax highlighting across the whole file, all of it serves that goal.

flipping the default isn't something I'd consider, and I don't see a strong case for adding it as a toggle either. isolated-diff review isn't really what revdiff is for.

closing.

[jhoermann]

Let me elaborate @umputun: So I have a translations json file with multiple thousand lines of code and I'm adding a new key - value pair (one line change). In every other diff tool I see the one line change and that's it. In revdiff I have to manually go to the filem and step through the change with "[" and check it. So I really like revdiff and especially the new AI features but thats a blocker right now for me.

[umputun]

i will move it to discussions

[umputun]

the concrete case is fair, multi-thousand-line translations file with a one-line change, having to hit ] to find it is real friction.

that said, "other diff tools do it this way" still doesn't move me. revdiff has its own goal, and my view is the right way to handle this is [/] hunk navigation rather than shrinking the view to just the changes. full-file context is deliberate.

one simpler middle ground I can see for your case: a toggle to switch the underlying diff context from full-file (-U1000000) to a small window like -U5. that gives you a conventional unified diff with a few lines around each change, which for the translations-file scenario would land you on the change with a bit of surrounding context. it's not a redesign, just a different diff-generation flag behind a switch. I'll look at what the implementation actually involves, no promises.

[umputun]

this has been done in #135
you can check it out but generally it looks like this:

can be set as default view in config, and can be configured to set how much surrounding context is desirable. Hotkey (C by default) to toggle it.

[jhoermann]

Thanks a lot @umputun that's really a great option and a nice middle ground solution.