What diff tool do you use?
Community Forums/General Help/What diff tool do you use?
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| Stumbled across WinMerge, free download - fantastic app for merging your code/ figuring out what is different between two files. Anyone use anything else? |
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| I use ExamDiffPro, used the free version and bought later the full version. |
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In Linux and Mac I use the console tools diff and patch. The syntax is:diff -uN oldfile newfile > patchfile patch oldfile < patchfile The -uN options stand for use unified format and create new file. There's also Meld in Linux which is good for its side by side comparison feature. |
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| I use KDiff... not only does it do the standard 2 files, you can do 3 and also folders too ;) http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/ |
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| @mcv, I think there is a gdiff in linux, its been a while though! |
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| I second KDiff. Also available for Windows and if you're a Git user as well it integrates nicely with Git (http://blog.htbaa.com/programming/configure-git-on-windows-to-use-kdiff3). I've also used WinMerge but it doesn't support the 3 file merge, but KDiff does. |
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| Another keen WinMerge user here. |
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| What do these tools do? |
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| As BP already explained, they take two different files (ie: source code, in a programming context) and show you the differences. They then allow you to incorporate changes from either one into the other. It's useful when you have two different "branches" of a particular library and you want to add some things from one version into another without removing the new stuff which was added only to the second. Obviously, if you were using a good source control solution, you wouldn't need it, but sometimes you find yourself having (or wanting) to do these things with other's people's code. |
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| Obviously, if you were using a good source control solution, you wouldn't need it, but sometimes you find yourself having (or wanting) to do these things with other's people's code. Hmm, I was using Tortoise SVN on my last computer, I have not quite got around to installing it on my W7 puta. Just to add to what Gabriel said, I found that sometimes with IDEal (my fave Blitz3D editor) that whne chossing recent files the 'last' version that was saved does not populate in the recent files drop down. I've found myself in the dilemma where I've eventually went to save and found my suffix versioning system(basically a _v{No.} at the end & found I already had a version 23. This is what took me back to my Unix/Linux days & sought out a diff tool which gives you a graphical illustration of where the difference lie bewteen the two different pieces of code & then finally the option to merger from one to other accepting/rejecting various changes along the way. WinMerge surpasses the basic diff tools on the linux/unix platform.... Obviously it on windows though! |
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| Standard windows / dos command: fc pretty simple but good enough for me. |
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| WinMerge over here too - have really missed it since moving to Mac OS X. |
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| Hadn't seen WinMerge before, but it works like a dream. Very nice find. |
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| I ahve tortoise SVN for updating files on a separate project server, but for comparing local files only, I just use standard windows windiff.exe and vfi.exe It's not something I really have need of a lot of the time. |
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