Make a differencing tool for conf.py

[sinewalker]

As noted on the Wiki Setup page, it would be useful to have a tool that compares the stock Nikola conf.py in a manner similar to Spacsmacs' (spacemacs/ediff-dotfile-and-template).

Probably use Unix or GNU diff rather than ediff from the command line. Or, why not both?

[sinewalker]

To generate a vanilla conf.py I can use nikola init -q ${TMP}/dummy and then difference that with the project's one. After computing the diff, just nuke ${TMP}/dummy.

I wonder if I can call nikola init from Python (or even create my own task?)

Perhaps a Nikola plugin?

[sinewalker]

The tool from spacemacs is this elisp code:

(defun spacemacs/ediff-dotfile-and-template ()
  "ediff the current `dotfile' with the template"
  (interactive)
  (ediff-files (dotspacemacs/location)
               (concat dotspacemacs-template-directory ".spacemacs.template")))

So... combined with my ediff shell function from dotfiles I can probably do something pretty simple as a shell script.

I'm wondering though if there's a python differencing tool, to avoid a reliance on emacs for the tool chain?

Maybe something like this tool? Of course, it then becomes its own dependency...