Finding where source has branched from git

Question

I have a git repository (covering more or less project history) and separate sources (just a tarball with few files) which have forked some time ago (actually somewhere in 2

Answer 1

If you have a rough idea as to where the fork occurred, consider using Will Manley's git meld. (See also: View differences of branches with meld?.)

To do this, add the tarball contents to your repository (which you'll be doing anyway). After installing Meld and git-meld, run

git meld branch_from_tarball commit_to_check &

on different commits until you find the one with the least differences. This command will open meld and view the changes in the directory tree between the specified commits, with identical files hidden. Example screenshots :

Meld showing two very different commits:

Showing two similar commits: