Comparing arbitrary revisions between branches using Bazaar

Question

Given two branches, branchA and branchB, is there a syntax for comparing arbitrary revisions X of branchA with Y of branchB?

For example:

cd /path/to/branchA
bzr diff --new /path/to/branchB -rX

This will show the differences between revision X of branchA and the HEAD of branchB. Is there a syntax to compare against revision Y of branchB instead of the HEAD?

As a workaround I can create a new branch branchB-Y using -rY and then diff against that branch instead of branchB, but I would like to be able to diff directly without creating such temporary branches.

Answer 1

You can specify the path to the branch of the revision by appending a : and the path:

cd /path/to/branchA
bzr diff --new /path/to/branchB -rX..Y:/path/to/branchB

I just tried it out:

$ bzr diff --new ../checkout -r2..2:../checkout
=== modified file 'x'
--- x   2013-03-12 17:28:11 +0000
+++ x   2013-03-12 17:26:47 +0000
@@ -1,1 +1,1 @@
-aa
+zz

See bzr help revisionspec for more information (it's hidden in the revno: section).