# Strange problem with diff3



## Peter2121 (Jan 21, 2020)

Hi,
I'm trying to manually upgrade a thin jail using etcupdate. The upgrade stops with the following error:

```
PANIC: merge failed with status 2
```
Adding an echo to etcupdate I've got the error command:

```
diff3 -E -m /jails/cbsd/jails/jab1/etc/pwd.db /jails/cbsd/jails-system/jab1/etcupdate/old/etc/pwd.db /jails/cbsd/jails-system/jab1/etcupdate/current/etc/pwd.db
diff3: subsidiary program `/usr/bin/diff' failed (exit status 2)
```
I can reproduce this error on any three different *.db files and on any path, for example:

```
diff3 -E -m 5/spwd.db 5/pwd.db 5/spwd.db
diff3: subsidiary program `/usr/bin/diff' failed (exit status 2)
```
What's happening? Is diff3 completely broken?
Any workaround is welcome!
PS I'm on 11.3-p5


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