use external diff tool in the ignore line-endings mode for merge

[Frits Jalvingh]

> Sure, but Java™ is not exactly native to one operating system…
> for example.
>
I fail to see the relation to that, here. The /implementation/ of java is
most certainly bound to the OS. The result of compilation is not. So the
"Windows" SDK will understand Windows line endings, will know that Windows
uses \ as file separator.... And we are talking about Java source files
here. They are /compiled/ by the JDK, not made by it.


>
> > Have what problem, with what? I meant to say bzr's rename support is
>
> The problem of needing rename tracking (I’ve not even seen
> a lot of renames in general). That being said, most projects
> over here use svn *shudder* and some, especially recent ones,
> git *shudder²*.
>
You would prevent renames if your vcs does not support it, because in that
case maintenance would quickly become a huge pain. Which is a huge problem
in Java, because it effectively makes refactoring impossible. In Java there
is a direct relation between a class's package and name and the file and
directory it is in. So any rename or move of a class will result in a file
being removed. Moving whole packages is also quite common - and it would
mean that a directory moves.

Now if a "previous" version (before those moves) changes a class (that was
moved in the newer version) Bazaar just knows without any help that it
needs to apply the changes on the new location. That is what makes
refactoring possible. And the reason you probably do not see that is that
if the VCS does not know renames then you cannot maintain your code after a
refactor - so one probably does not do it...
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