---
layout: post
title: diffoscope 61 released
author: Chris Lamb <lamby@debian.org>
---

The diffoscope maintainers are pleased to announce the release of diffoscope
version `61`. This version includes the following changes:

```
[ Mattia Rizzolo ]
* Skip rlib tests if the "nm" tool is missing. (Closes: #837742)
* Use dedicated xxd binary package instead of vim-common.
* autopkgtest: Allow stderr for the basic-command-line test.
* d/rules: make it possible to backport without changing the "upstream"
  version.

[ Maria Glukhova ]
* Catch an error when we can't read files in has_same_content_as().
  (Closes: #835642)

[ Chris Lamb ]
* Add the ability track the (approximate) progress throughout diffoscope run:
  - Add a graphical progressbar and show by default if STDOUT is a TTY.
  - Add a --status-fd argument to output machine-readable status to the
    specified file descriptor.

[ Ximin Luo ]
* Add a --output-empty option, useful for batch scripts.
* Improve --help text and group the optional arguments based on topic.
* Add a script to check sizes of dependencies.
* tests/basic-command-line: check exit code and use a more complex example.
* Provide better advice about what environment variable to set to make the
  console work.
```

You find out more by [visiting the project homepage](https://diffoscope.org).