Re: Suggested amendment to www.gnu.org/software/emacs/download.html#windows

[Óscar Fuentes]

David Wardle <address@hidden> writes:

> I have edited the Wikipedia page:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_comparison_tools
> ... to give readers some warning that, although Ediff can be used with
> Windows, it's currently not easy to install unless you have knowledge
> of using GNU software in a Windows environment.  I don't like doing
> this because it will obviously deter prospective Ediff (and hence
> Emacs users) (and, after I did finally manage to get Ediff working, I
> did find it useful).  However, I feel that it's only fair to give
> readers such a warning or they, like me, might end up wasting a lot of
> their time.  A better solution would be to make Ediff easier to
> install but I leave it with you.

The comparison table already says that Ediff will work on "anything with
Emacs and diff". Your warning is unnecesary and singles out a specific
platform.

Just because you took a long time to realize that Ediff requires diff it
doesn't mean that others will need redundant information about the fact.
Furthermore, that wikipedia page is not the best place to inform the
world about Ediff requirements. It would be much better if Ediff itself
emitted a message informing the user when diff is missing.