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One of the commonest requirements in project development is to see what has changed. You might want to look at the differences between two revisions of the same file, or the differences between two separate files. TortoiseSVN provides a builtin tool named TortoiseMerge for viewing differences of text files. For viewing differences of image files, TortoiseSVN also has a tool named TortoiseIDiff. Of course, you can use your own favourite diff program if you like.
- Local changes
If you want to see what changes you have made in your working copy, just use the explorer context menu and select → .
- Difference to another branch/tag
If you want to see what has changed on trunk (if you are working on a branch) or on a specific branch (if you are working on trunk), you can use the explorer context menu. Just hold down the Shift key while you right click on the file. Then select → . In the following dialog, specify the URL in the repository with which you want to compare your local file to.
You can also use the repository browser and select two trees to diff, perhaps two tags, or a branch/tag and trunk. The context menu there allows you to compare them using . Read more in the section called “Comparing Folders”.
- Difference from a previous revision
If you want to see the difference between a particular revision and your working copy, use the Revision Log dialog, select the revision of interest, then select from the context menu.
- Difference between two previous revisions
If you want to see the difference between two revisions which are already committed, use the Revision Log dialog and select the two revisions you want to compare (using the usual Ctrl-modifier). Then select from the context menu.
If you did this from the revision log for a folder, a Compare Revisions dialog appears, showing a list of changed files in that folder. Read more in the section called “Comparing Folders”.
- All changes made in a commit
If you want to see the changes made to all files in a particular revision in one view, you can use Unified-Diff output (GNU patch format). This shows only the differences with a few lines of context. It is harder to read than a visual file compare, but will show all the changes together. From the Revision Log dialog select the revision of interest, then select from the context menu.
- Difference between files
If you want to see the differences between two different files, you can do that directly in explorer by selecting both files (using the usual Ctrl-modifier). Then from the explorer context menu select → .
- Difference between WC file/folder and a URL
If you want to see the differences between a file in your working copy, and a file in any Subversion repository, you can do that directly in explorer by selecting the file then holding down the Shift key whilst right clicking to obtain the context menu. Select → . You can do the same thing for a working copy folder. TortoiseMerge shows these differences in the same way as it shows a patchfile - a list of changed files which you can view one at a time.
- Difference with blame information
If you want to see not only the differences but also the author, revision and date that changes were made, you can combine the diff and blame reports from within the revision log dialog. Read the section called “Blame Differences” for more detail.
- Difference between folders
The builtin tools supplied with TortoiseSVN do not support viewing differences between directory hierarchies. But if you have an external tool which does support that feature, you can use that instead. In the section called “External Diff/Merge Tools” we tell you about some tools which we have used.
When you select two trees within the repository browser, or when you select two revisions of a folder in the log dialog, you can → .
This dialog shows a list of all files which have changed and allows you to compare or blame them individually using context menu.
You can also export the list of changed files to a text file, or you can export the changed files themselves to a folder. This operation works on the selected files only, so you need to select the files of interest - usually that means all of them.
If you want to export the list of files and the actions (modified, added, deleted) as well, you can do that using the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-A to select all entries and Ctrl-C to copy the detailed list to the clipboard.
The button at the top allows you to change the direction of comparison. You can show the changes need to get from A to B, or if you prefer, from B to A.
There are many tools available for diffing text files, including our own TortoiseMerge, but we often find ourselves wanting to see how an image file has changed too. That's why we created TortoiseIDiff.
→ for any of the common image file formats will start TortoiseIDiff to show image differences. By default the images are displayed side-by-side but you can use the View menu or toolbar to switch to a top-bottom view instead, or if you prefer, you can overlay the images and pretend you are using a lightbox. A slider at the top controls the relative intensity of the images (alpha blend). You can also use Ctrl-Shift-Wheel to change the blend.
Naturally you can also zoom in and out and pan around the image. If you select the Link images together option, then the pan controls (scrollbars, wheelmouse) on both images are linked.
In image info box shows details about the image file, such as the size in pixels, resolution and colour depth. If this box gets in the way, use → to hide it.
If the tools we provide don't do what you need, try one of the many open-source or commercial programs available. Everyone has their own favourites, and this list is by no means complete, but here are a few that you might consider:
- WinMerge
WinMerge is a great open-source diff tool which can also handle directories.
- Perforce Merge
Perforce is a commercial RCS, but you can download the diff/merge tool for free. Get more information from Perforce .
- KDiff3
KDiff3 is a free diff tool which can also handle directories. You can download it from here .
- ExamDiff
ExamDiff Standard is freeware. It can handle files but not directories. ExamDiff Pro is shareware and adds a number of goodies including directory diff and editing capability. In both flavours, version 3.2 and above can handle unicode. You can download them from PrestoSoft .
- Beyond Compare
Similar to ExamDiff Pro, this is an excellent shareware diff tool which can handle directory diffs and unicode. Download it from Scooter Software .
- Araxis Merge
Araxis Merge is a useful commercial tool for diff and merging both files and folders. It does three-way comparision in merges and has synchronization links to use if you've changed the order of functions. Download it from Araxis .
- SciTE
This text editor includes syntax colouring for unified diffs, making them much easier to read. Download it from Scintilla .
- Notepad2
Notepad2 is designed as a replacement for the standard Windows Notepad program, and is based on the Scintilla open-source edit control. As well as being good for viewing unified diffs, it is much better than the Windows notepad for most jobs. Download it for free here .
Read the section called “External Program Settings” for information on how to set up TortoiseSVN to use these tools.
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