<s>
diff3	B-Application
is	O
a	O
Unix	B-Application
utility	O
to	O
compare	O
three	O
files	O
and	O
show	O
any	O
differences	O
among	O
them	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
diff3	B-Application
can	O
also	O
merge	B-General_Concept
files	O
,	O
implementing	O
a	O
three-way	O
merge	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
originally	O
appeared	O
in	O
Version	B-Operating_System
7	I-Operating_System
Unix	I-Operating_System
of	O
1979	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
very	O
similar	O
version	O
was	O
found	O
in	O
Berkeley	B-Operating_System
Software	I-Operating_System
Distribution	I-Operating_System
(	O
BSD	B-Operating_System
)	O
and	O
was	O
inherited	O
into	O
OpenBSD	O
and	O
probably	O
Solaris	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
most	O
modern	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
,	O
even	O
BSD-derived	O
ones	O
like	O
FreeBSD	O
and	O
NetBSD	O
,	O
the	O
diff3	B-Application
provided	O
is	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
's	O
version	O
in	O
diffutils	B-Application
(	O
formerly	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
Tools	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
version	O
has	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
merge	B-General_Concept
files	O
on	O
its	O
own	O
without	O
relying	O
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
command	B-Application
is	O
available	O
as	O
a	O
separate	O
package	O
for	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
UnxUtils	B-Application
collection	O
of	O
native	B-Language
Win32	B-Library
ports	O
of	O
common	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
utilities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
"	O
Diff3	B-Application
"	O
has	O
also	O
become	O
a	O
generic	O
name	O
for	O
the	O
three-way-merge	O
algorithm	O
,	O
specifically	O
one	O
based	O
on	O
reconciling	O
two	O
different	O
diffs	B-Application
stemming	O
from	O
the	O
first	O
source	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
two	O
people	O
have	O
made	O
changes	O
to	O
copies	O
of	O
the	O
same	O
file	O
,	O
diff3	B-Application
can	O
produce	O
a	O
merged	O
output	O
that	O
contains	O
both	O
sets	O
of	O
changes	O
together	O
with	O
warnings	O
about	O
conflicts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
diff3	B-Application
can	O
merge	B-General_Concept
three	O
or	O
more	O
sets	O
of	O
changes	O
to	O
a	O
file	O
by	O
merging	O
two	O
change	O
sets	O
at	O
a	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
diff3	B-Application
can	O
incorporate	O
changes	O
from	O
two	O
modified	O
versions	O
into	O
a	O
common	O
preceding	O
version	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
enables	O
users	O
to	O
merge	B-General_Concept
the	O
sets	O
of	O
changes	O
represented	O
by	O
the	O
two	O
newer	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
can	O
be	O
enabled	O
using	O
a	O
command	B-Application
like	O
this	O
:	O
diff3	B-Application
mine	O
older	O
yours	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
diff3	B-Application
has	O
several	O
methods	O
to	O
handle	O
overlaps	O
and	O
conflicts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
diff3	B-Application
can	O
output	O
the	O
merge	B-General_Concept
results	O
as	O
an	O
ed	B-Application
script	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
applied	O
to	O
the	O
first	O
file	O
to	O
yield	O
the	O
merged	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
directly	O
generating	O
the	O
merged	O
output	O
bypasses	O
some	O
problems	O
with	O
ed	B-Application
.	O
</s>
