How to setup kdiff3 in Mac OS?

Question

In.gitconfig file I setup up the git diff as follows:

[diff]
    tool = kdiff3

[difftool "kdiff3"]
    path = path_directory/kdiff3.app

In this setting kdiff is not accessible and I get the following error when I run in terminal

>> git difftool
The diff tool kdiff3 is not available as 'Kdiff_local_software_path/kdiff3.app'
fatal: external diff died, stopping at modified_file

Do you have any suggestion I can fix this issue ? In my current setup Mac OS 10.10.5 git diff tool is git merge tool that I want to replace with kdiff.

Answer 1

kdiff3 is generally located at the following location:

/Applications/kdiff3.app/Contents/MacOS/kdiff3

so, try

[difftool "kdiff3"]
    path = /Applications/kdiff3.app/Contents/MacOS/kdiff3

If you installed kdiff using brew, then you'd not need the difftool parameter in config for git 1.8 onwards. Just the following would work:

[diff]
    tool = kdiff3

If you installed kdiff mounting the dmg file to kdiff.app then set your local path as following:

[difftool "kdiff3"]
    path = directory_path_where_you_installed/kdiff3.app/Contents/MacOS/kdiff3

Answer 2

1. Download kdiff3 and install as app(drag and drop the kdiff3 into your Applications): http://sourceforge.net/projects/kdiff3/files/kdiff3/0.9.98/kdiff3-0.9.98-MacOSX-64Bit.dmg/download

2. Setup git config tool as following, works for me on MacBook Pro:

git config --global merge.tool kdiff3

and:

git config --global mergetool.kdiff3.cmd '/Applications/kdiff3.app/Contents/MacOS/kdiff3 $BASE $LOCAL $REMOTE -o $MERGED'

Answer 3

You don't need to add any paths to your gitconfig as described in the other answers. This is all you need to configure in you .gitconfig

[diff]
    guitool = kdiff3
[merge]
    tool = kdiff3

Assuming you have homebrew installed on your machine:

brew update
brew tap caskroom/cask
brew cask install kdiff3

Explanation:

1. setup to use cask

   brew tap caskroom/cask
   

2. downloads kdiff3, moves it to your Applications dir and links kdiff3.sh to /usr/local/bin/kdiff3

   brew cask install kdiff3
   

Answer 4

1. First check whether kdiff3 is installed and recognized by git:

   $ type -a kdiff3
   -bash: type: kdiff3: not found
   

   In cases where kdiff3 is not installed in macOS, git will also show following messages:

   $ git difftool --tool-help
   $ # OR (both command would do)
   $ git mergetool --tool-help
   'git mergetool --tool=<tool>' may be set to one of the following:
           emerge
           opendiff
           vimdiff
           vimdiff2
           vimdiff3
   
   The following tools are valid, **but not currently available**:
           ...
           gvimdiff3
           kdiff3
           meld
           ...
   
   Some of the tools listed above only work in a windowed
   environment. If run in a terminal-only session, they will fail.
   

---

2. Then we should install kdiff3, there are many ways to do it:

   • by using MacPort
   • by using Homebrew
   • by downloading SourceForge dmg package
   • building from source
   • etc.

   I personally prefer MacPort:

   $ port search kdiff3
   kdiff3 @0.9.98_4 (devel)
       kdiff3 is a file comparing and merging tool.
   $ sudo port install kdiff3
   ...installing process...
   

   After this, kdiff3 should be available to macOS and git

   $ type -a kdiff3
   kdiff3 is /opt/local/bin/kdiff3
   $ git difftool --tool-help
   'git difftool --tool=<tool>' may be set to one of the following:
           emerge
           kdiff3
           opendiff
           ...
   

---

3. Finally, make sure the correct configuration for git:

   [diff]
       tool = kdiff3
   [difftool]
       prompt = false
   [merge]
       tool = kdiff3
       conflictstyle = diff3
   

Answer 5

Here are updated commands if you are installing kdiff3 using brew

brew tap homebrew/cask

brew install kdiff3 --cask

Answer 6

Just to add my 5 cents to this answer if you do not have homebrew follow these steps from appstore official site it will take a few minutes to download and install all the necessary packages.

After running the second step you need to follow the instructions that the terminal shows you after everything was downloaded and installed(there are 3 more steps to execute in the terminal).

In source tree then you will be able to select kdiff3 as the default diff merge tool.

If running the merge tool program for the first time you might need to execute it from the applications folder yourself by right clicking the file and select the open option in order to give the diff tool app the necessary permission to be executed every time.