Using Beyond Compare with Version Control Systems(zt)

Using Beyond Compare with Version Control Systems

(from:http://www.scootersoftware.com)

Beyond Compare can be configured as the external difference utility in many popular VCS applications.  The following are configuration instructions for specific products.  Let us know if you have one to add to the list.

 Beyond Compare v3:  These examples are based on Beyond Compare 3

 Beyond Compare v2:  To use Beyond Compare 2 replace BComp.exe with BC2.exe and change the path to Beyond Compare 2's install folder.

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AnkhSVN

1. Open Visual Studio.
2. Select Options from the Tools menu.
3. Select Source Control | Subversion User Tools.
4. For the Diff and Merge entries, select Beyond Compare from the dropdown.

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CA Harvest Change Manager

1. Open the Workbench.
2. Select Options from the Tools menu.
3. Switch to the Merge Tool tab in the Options dialog.
4. Select "Beyond Compare" in the ToolName drop-down.
5. Enter the complete path to your BComp.exe in the Compare, 2-way Merge, and 3-way Merge fields.

Compare
  BComp.exe /readonly $(File1) $(File2)

2-way Merge
  BComp.exe $(TrunkFile) $(BranchFile) /mergeoutput=$(ResultsFile)

3-way Merge (v3 Pro)
  BComp.exe $(TrunkFile) $(BranchFile) $(AncestorFile) $(ResultsFile)

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ClearCase

1. Go into the "C:/Program Files/Rational/ClearCase/lib/mgrs" folder.
2. Create a backup of the file named "map".
3. Edit "map" and edit the following lines to point to Beyond Compare:
   
   text_file_delta compare C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp.exe
text_file_delta xcompare C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp.exe
text_file_delta merge C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp.exe
text_file_delta xmerge C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp.exe

Make the same change to lines beginning with _html, _xml, _html2, _xml2 to use Beyond Compare for HTML and XML comparisons.

To use Beyond Compare 2, only change the xcompare line of the map file.  Overriding compare, merge, and xmerge is not supported.  A helper that improves BC2's support is available here.

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ClearCase Remote Client

1. Go into the folder "C:/Program Files/IBM/Rational/ClearCase701/CCRC/plugins/com.ibm.rational.clearcase.compare_merge.win32.x86_7.0.1.D061004".
2. Copy "c:/program files/beyond compare 3/bcomp.exe" into the folder.
3. Move ccrc_cleardiff.exe, ccrc_cleardiffmrg.exe, ccrc_worddiffmrg.exe and ccrc_xmldiffmrg.exe to a backup folder.
4. Make 4 copies of bcomp.exe and rename them to ccrc_cleardiff.exe, ccrc_cleardiffmrg.exe, ccrc_worddiffmrg.exe and ccrc_xmldiffmrg.exe.

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Code Co-op

Visit Reliable Software for details on using Beyond Compare with Code Co-op.  Reliable Software offers a discounted bundle of the two products.

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CS-RCS

1. Choose Settings from the Document Explorer's Project menu.
2. Switch to the File Types tab.
3. Click the Default button.
4. Change the Difference Analysis Tool to "Custom Tool".
5. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the Difference Analysis Tool edit.

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CVS

CVS does not support external diff or merge tools.

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Dimensions CM / PVCS

 BC version 3:

1. Navigate to the Dimensions / PVCS install folder and find the file pvcsmerge.exe and rename it to pvcsmerge.exe.exe.
2. Copy bcomp.exe from C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3 into the Dimensions folder and rename it to pvcsmerge.exe.

In Dimensions CM 10 you can edit your native.properties file instead.  The integration isn't as complete in that case, so file format/rules matching don't work correctly and folder comparisons aren't supported.

 BC version 2:

Follow the instructions above, but instead of using BComp.exe use the copy of pvcsmerge.exe in pvcsmergev8.zip for PVCS 6.8, 8.0, and Merant Dimensions 8, or in pvcsmerge75.zip for PVCS 7.5.

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Eclipse IDE

Launch Beyond Compare from the Eclipse IDE using the Beyond CVS plug-in by Chris Callandar and Nick Boldt.

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FreeVCS

1. Choose Properties in the Project Manager's Options menu.
2. Switch to the Compare Tools panel.
3. Click the Add Custom button.
4. Enter "Beyond Compare" as the new name.
5. Click the Edit button.
6. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the File compare utility edit.
7. Enter %1 %2 in the Command line parameter string edit.

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git for Linux

Diff

1. Create a shell script file "git-diff-wrapper.sh" with the following content:
  #!/bin/sh
  # diff is called by git with 7 parameters:
  # path old-file old-hex old-mode new-file new-hex new-mode
  "<path_to_bc3_executable>" "$2" "$5" | cat

2. In a console window enter the command:
  $ git config --global diff.external <path_to_wrapper_script>

3-Way Merge (v3 Pro)

In a console window enter the following three commands:
  $ git config --global merge.tool bc3
  $ git config --global mergetool.bc3.cmd "/usr/bin/bcompare /$LOCAL
    /$REMOTE /$BASE /$MERGED"
  $ git config --global mergetool.bc3.trustExitCode true

2-Way Merge (v3 Std, v2)

In a console window enter the following three commands:
  $ git config --global merge.tool bc3
  $ git config --global mergetool.bc3.cmd "/usr/bin/bcompare /$LOCAL
    /$REMOTE -savetarget=/$MERGED"
  $ git config --global mergetool.bc3.trustExitCode true

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Git for Windows

Note:  If you use the Git for Windows' Bash Command Prompt instead of the default Windows Command Prompt, you need to escape the $ character with */$*.

Diff

At a command prompt enter the commands:
  git config --global diff.tool bc3
  git config --global difftool.bc3.cmd "/"c:/program files/beyond compare 3/bcomp.exe/" /"$LOCAL/" /"$REMOTE/""
  git config --global difftool.prompt false

To launch a diff with BC3, use the command "git difftool foofile.txt".

3-Way Merge (v3 Pro)

At a command prompt, enter the commands:
  git config --global merge.tool bc3
  git config --global mergetool.bc3.cmd "/"c:/program files/beyond compare 3/bcomp.exe/" /"$LOCAL/" /"$REMOTE/" /"$BASE/" /"$MERGED/""
  git config --global mergetool.bc3.trustExitCode true

To launch a 3-way merge with BC3, use the command "git mergetool foofile.txt".

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KDESVN

1. In KDESVN Choose Configure KDESVN from the Settings menu.
2. Select Diff & Merge.
3. Check Use external diff display.
4. In the External diff display edit, use:
   bcompare -readonly %1 %2
5. In the External merge program edit, use:
   bcompare %s1 %s2 %t
6. In the External resolver program edit, use:
   bcompare %n %m %o %t

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Mercurial / HG / TortoiseHg

To configure Mercurial you need to edit the file %USERPROFILE%/Mercurial.ini or $HOME/.hgrc.  Add the following lines, using existing INI sections if they already exist:

Diff

  [extdiff]
  cmd.bcomp = C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BCompare.exe
  opts.bcomp = /ro
 
  [tortoisehg]
  vdiff = bcomp


Once set up you can compare revisions from the command line using
hg bcomp -r <rev1> [-r <rev2>] [<filename>]

3-Way Merge (v3 Pro)

  [merge-tools]
  bcomp.executable = C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp
  bcomp.args = $local $other $base $output
  bcomp.priority = 1
  bcomp.premerge = True
  bcomp.gui = True
 
  [ui]
  merge = bcomp


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Microsoft Team Foundation Server

Diff

1. In Visual Studio Choose Options from the Tools menu.
2. Expand Source Control in the treeview.
3. Click Visual Studio Team Foundation Server in the treeview.
4. Click the Configure User Tools button.
5. Click the Add button.
6. Enter ".*" in the Extension edit.
7. Choose Compare in the Operation combobox.
8. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the Command edit.
9. In the Arguments edit, use:
   %1 %2 /title1=%6 /title2=%7

3-Way Merge (v3 Pro)

1. Follow steps 1-6 above.
2. Choose Merge in the Operation combobox.
3. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the Command edit.
4. In the Arguments edit, use:
   %1 %2 %3 %4 /title1=%6 /title2=%7 /title3=%8 /title4=%9

2-Way Merge (v3 Std, v2)

Use the same steps as the 3-way merge above, but use the command line:
%1 %2 /savetarget=%4 /title1=%6 /title2=%7

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 with Visual SourceSafe 2005

Supported for "Microsoft Visual SourceSafe" plug-in.  The "Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (Internet)" plug-in does not support external diff tools.

1. Open Visual Studio 2005.
2. Select Options from the Tools menu.
3. Select Plug-In Settings under the Source Control branch of the left-side tree control.
4. Select Visual SourceSafe under Plug-In Settings on the right-hand pane.
5. Press the Advanced button.
6. Select the Custom Editor tab in the "SourceSafe Options" pane.
7. Select File Difference in the Operation drop-down.
8. Enter ".*" in the File Extension edit.
9. Enter this in the Command Line edit:
     "C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/bcomp.exe" %1 %2
10. Click the Add button and close all dialog boxes.

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MKS Source Integrity

Diff

1. Start MKS Source Integrity.
2. Go to Tools | Preferences | DiffTool.
3. Select Custom Command.
4. Enter the command:
     "C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp.exe" /title1="{1}" /title2="{2}" "{3}" "{4}"

3-Way Merge (v3 Pro)

Use this for the merge tool command line:
  "C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp.exe" /title1="{1}" /title2="{2}" /title3="{0}" "{5}" "{6}" "{4}" "{7}"

2-Way Merge (v3 Std, v2)

Use this for the merge tool command line:
  "C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp.exe" /title1="{1}" /title2="{2}" "{5}" "{6}" /savetarget="{7}"

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Perforce

P4V (The Perforce Visual Client)

1. Choose Preferences from the Edit menu.
2. Switch to the Diff tab.
3. Change the Default Diff Application option to "Other application".
4. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the Location edit.
5. Switch to the Merge tab.
6. Change the Default merge application to "Other application".
7. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the Location edit.
8. In the Arguments edit, enter:
     %1 %2 %b %r

P4Win (The Perforce Windows Client)

1. Choose Options from the Settings menu.
2. Select Files > Diff.
3. Select User supplied diff application.
4. Browse to BComp.exe.
5. Check Options args and enter:
    /lefttitle="%L" /righttitle="%R" %1 %2
6. Select Files > Merge.
7. Select User supplied merge application.
8. Browse to BComp.exe.
9. Check Optional args and enter:
    /vcsleft="%T" /vcsright="%Y" %2 %3 %1 %4

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QVCS

1. Choose Preferences from the Admin menu.
2. Switch to the Utilities tab.
3. in the Visual Compare Utility Command Line edit, enter:
     C:/Progra~1/Beyond~1/BComp.exe file1Name file2Name

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Roundtable TSMS

1. Go into the "C:/Program Files/RoundTable/rtb/p" folder.
2. Create a backup of the file named "Rtb_vcom.p".
3. Edit "Rtb_vcom.p" and change the line:
     ASSIGN Mexe = SEARCH("visdiff/visdiff.exe").
   to:
     ASSIGN Mexe = SEARCH("C:/Progra~1/Beyond~1/bcomp.exe").

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SourceAnyWhere for VSS

1. Select Tools | Options.  Go to the External Programs tab.
2. Application for diff/merge:
    c:/program files/beyond compare 3/bcomp.exe
3. Arguments for diff files:
    /readonly /title1="%FIRST_LABEL%" /title2="%SECOND_LABEL%" "%FIRST_FILE%" "%SECOND_FILE%"
4. Arguments for diff folders:
    "%FIRST_DIR%" "%SECOND_DIR%"
5. Arguments for Two-way merge:
    /leftreadonly /title1="%FIRST_LABEL%" /title2="%SECOND_LABEL%" "%FIRST_FILE%" "%SECOND_FILE%"

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SourceGear Vault / Fortress

Diff

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu.
2. Select Diff / Merge.
3. Under Diff, enter the path to BComp.exe for the Program setting.
4. In the Arguments edit, enter:
   "%LEFT_PATH%" "%RIGHT_PATH%" /ro /title1="%LEFT_LABEL%" /title2="%RIGHT_LABEL%"

3-Way Merge (v3 Pro)

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu.
2. Select Diff / Merge.
3. Under Merge, enter the path to BComp.exe for the Program setting.
4. In the Arguments edit, enter:
   "%WORKING_PATH%" "%OTHER_PATH%" "%BASELINE_PATH%" "%DEST_PATH%" /title1="%WORKING_LABEL%" /title2="%OTHER_LABEL%" /title4="%DEST_LABEL%"

2-Way Merge (v3 Std, v2)

Use the same steps as above, but set the Arguments setting to:
"%WORKING_PATH%" "%OTHER_PATH%" /title1="%WORKING_LABEL%" /title2="%OTHER_LABEL%" /savetarget="%DEST_PATH%"

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SourceOffsite

1. Choose Options from the Windows Client's Tools menu.
2. Switch to the External Programs panel.
3. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the Application for comparing files, Application for comparing folders and Application for merging files edits.

Beyond Compare 1.9 is the default external difference utility in SourceOffsite Collaborative Edition.  To upgrade to Beyond Compare 3 follow the instructions above.

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StarTeam

Diff

1. Choose Personal Options from the Tools menu.
2. Switch to the Files panel.
3. If it's present, click the "Alternate Applications" button.
4. Check the Comparison Utility checkbox.
5. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the edit.
6. In the Options edit enter:
    $file1 $file2

3-Way Merge (v3 Pro)

1. Follow steps 1-5 above, but check the Merge Utility checkbox in step 4.
2. In the Options edit enter:
    $usertip $branchtip $basefile $resultfile

2-Way Merge is not supported because $resultfile is not expanded if used as an argument to /savetarget=.

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Subversion

Windows

1. Go into the Beyond Compare installation folder (eg, C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3).
2. Create a batch file named "svn.bat" with one line:
     "C:/Progra~1/Beyond~1/bcomp.exe" "%6" /title1=%3 "%7" /title2=%5
3. Go into Subversion's per-user configuration area, typically C:/Documents and Settings/<username>/Application Data/Subversion.
4. Edit "config" and change the following lines:
     # [helpers]
  # diff-cmd = diff_program (diff, gdiff, etc.)
   to:
     [helpers]
  diff-cmd = C:/Progra~1/Beyond~1/svn.bat

Cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/)

Instead of using a batch file, create a file named "bc.sh" with the following line:
"$(cygpath 'C:/Progra~1/Beyond~1/bcomp.exe')" `cygpath -w "$6"` `cygpath -w "$7"` /title1="$3" /title2="$5" /readonly

Linux

Diff:

Create a file named /usr/bin/bcdiff.sh with the following line:
/usr/bin/bcompare "$6" "$7" -title1="$3" -title2="$5" -readonly

Edit "$HOME/.subversion/config" and add the line "diff-cmd = /usr/bin/bcdiff.sh".

Merge:

Create a file named /usr/bin/bcmerge.sh with the following line:
/usr/bin/bcompare "$2" "$3" "$1" "$4"

Edit "$HOME/.subversion/config" and add the line "merge-tool-cmd = /usr/bin/bcmerge.sh".

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Surround SCM

1. Open User Options.
2. Go to the Diff/Merge section.
3. Add or edit an entry for File Type "All other text files", with Diff/Merge set to Diff.
4. Enter selected application: "c:/program files/beyond compare 3/bcomp.exe" "%1" "%2" and click OK.

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Team Coherence

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu.
2. Switch to the Difference Viewers tab.
3. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the Application edit.
4. Enter /fv "$LF" /title1="$LD" "$RF" /title2="$RD" in the Parameters edit.

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Telelogic Synergy

1. Close CMSynergy application.
2. Go into your %userprofile% folder (type %userprofile% in explorer address bar if you are unsure where this is).
3. Create a backup of the file named "ccm.ini".
4. Edit "ccm.ini" and change the lines for Compare_cmd and merge_cmd to:
     Compare_cmd = C:/Progra~1/Beyond~1/bcomp.exe %file1 %file2 /lefttitle=%file1_label /righttitle=%file2_label
  merge_cmd = C:/Program~1/Beyond~1/bcomp.exe %file1 %file2 %ancestor /mergeoutput=%outfile /lefttitle=%file1_label /righttitle=%file2_label

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TortoiseCVS

1. Start Preferences application.
2. Switch to the Tools tab.
3. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the External diff application edit.
4. Check the External diff application supports Unicode checkbox.

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TortoiseHg

see Mercurial / HG

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TortoiseSVN

Diff

1. Select Settings from Explorer's TortoiseSVN submenu.
2. Switch to the Diff Viewer tab.
3. Change the radio buttons from TortoiseMerge to External.
4. In the path edits, enter:
   "C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp.exe" %base %mine /title1=%bname /title2=%yname /leftreadonly

To use Beyond Compare for image comparisons either replace the file C:/Program Files/TortoiseSVN/bin/TortoiseIDiff.exe with a copy of BComp.exe, or click the Advanced button on the Diff Viewer tab and add each image type's extension with the same command line as above.

3-Way Merge (v3 Pro)

1. Select Settings from Explorer's TortoisSVN submenu.
2. Switch to the Merge Tool tab.
3. Change the radio buttons from TortoiseMerge to External.
4. In the path edits, enter:
   "C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp.exe" %mine %theirs %base %merged /title1=%yname /title2=%tname /title3=%bname /title4=%mname

2-Way Merge (v3 Std, v2)

Use the same steps as above, but use the command line:
"C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/BComp.exe" %mine %theirs /savetarget=%merged

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Vault / Fortress

see SourceGear Vault / Fortress

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VersionMaster

1. Choose User Specific Options from the Tools | Options submenu.
2. Switch to the Visual Differencing tab.
3. Change the radio button to Use Custom Visual Differencer.
4. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the edit.

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Visual SourceSafe 2005

Diff

1. Open the Visual SourceSafe Explorer.
2. Select Options from the Tools menu.
3. Switch to the Custom Editors tab in the SourceSafe Options dialog.
4. Select File Difference in the Operation drop-down.
5. Enter ".*" in the File Extension edit.
6. Enter this in the Command Line: edit:
     "C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/bcomp.exe" %1 %2
7. Click the Add button.

Merge

1. Open the Visual SourceSafe Explorer.
2. Select Options from the Tools menu.
3. Switch to the Custom Editors tab in the SourceSafe Options dialog.
4. Select File Merge in the Operation drop-down.
5. Enter ".*" in the File Extension edit.
6. Enter this in the Command Line edit:
     "C:/Program Files/Beyond Compare 3/bcomp.exe" %1 %2 /savetarget=%4
7. Click the Add button.

Visual SourceSafe 6.0 and earlier do not support external difference utilities.  SourceOffsite and VersionMaster can both use Beyond Compare in combination with SourceSafe.

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WinCVS

1. Choose Preferences from the Admin menu.
2. Switch to the WinCVS tab.
3. Check the External diff checkbox.
4. Enter the path to BComp.exe in the External diff edit.