Note: This issue was originally discussed on this StackOverflow thread: https://stackoverflow.com/q/56675863 Prior to Git version 2.22.0 I was able to use git difftool without configuring diff.tool or merge.tool and it would show the diff using git diff. E.g. with Git 2.21.0: ~/gits/src/git$ git difftool --no-index color.c color.h diff --git a/color.c b/color.h index ebb222ec33..98894d6a17 100644 In Git version 2.22.0 an error message about diff.tool not being configured is displayed: ~/gits/src/git$ git difftool --no-index color.c color.h This message is displayed because 'diff.tool' is not configured. See 'git difftool --tool-help' or 'git help config' for more details. 'git difftool' will now attempt to use one of the following tools: kompare emerge vimdiff The following commit is thought to have caused the regression: https://github.com/git/git/commit/05fb8726cccc74908853c166248ff9b6abdafae5 Please let me know if I can provide any more info. Thanks, Logan