Why does git diff on Windows warn that the "terminal is not fully functional"?

Question

I'm using msysgit 1.7.7.1 on Windows. I get an error when using git diff. What is causing this? Is there no diff tool included in msysgit? What should I do?

WARNING: terminal is not fully functional

Answer 1

If you are having issues in cmd.exe, for instance, see the warning here:

Then simply set your environment variables and include TERM=msys. After that, each time you open a cmd.exe, your variable will be set correctly.

NOW YOU MUST RESTART YOUR SHELL (CMD.EXE). Just run a new one. And from there, you should have no more issues. Again:

Answer 2

For Git Bash, this can be fixed by adding the following line to ~/.bashrc:

export TERM=cygwin 

-or-

export TERM=msys 

The first seems to be the original by git for windows, the second a popular known form to "heal" as well.

The problem can be caused if some other program (like for example Strawberry Perl) sets the TERM system environment variables.

http://code.google.com/p/msysgit/issues/detail?id=184