It does.
If pacdiff -s is used then it would be fine and use temporary files, calling sudo to apply changes afterwards and not to the GUI application itself.
It also is somewhat related to those common env vars topic again.
ex:
EDITOR=/usr/bin/micro
SUDO_EDITOR=/usr/bin/micro
VISUAL=/usr/bin/kate
DIFFPROG=/usr/bin/meld
So then same benefit for single files:
sudoedit /etc/pacman.conf
# or
sudo -e /etc/pacman.conf
(open temp file to be applied to pacman.conf … uses micro from above settings)
Another way is to use gvfs or kio …
meld admin:////etc/pacman.conf.pacnew admin:////etc/pacman.conf
I actually patched pacdiff at one point to use gvfs/kio with a new function “(E)dit”.
But its somewhat redundant with the -s option. (as then “(V)iew” works fine for edits).