Meld - a great visual diff and merge tool for linux (opens in new tab)

(meld.sourceforge.net)

96 pointstagnu_15y ago40 comments

40 comments

prog15y ago

For Windows I found WinMerge to be quite useful: http://winmerge.org/

Luyt15y ago

+1. I use WinMerge on a daily basis on my Windows development machines. It's a very complete and polished program, typically written by people who use it themselves and want their tools to be the best.

alnayyir15y ago

Then why does their website make it look like shareware garbage? Yellow? Ow. :(

schumihan15y ago

I like winmerge. Even kdiff3 is not as useful as winmerge, IMHO.

http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/

acqq15y ago

Can they be even compared? KDiff3 merges based on the "common ancestor" (3 versions to the fourth) and I don't see in that feature in the screenshots of WinMerge?

1 more reply

angusgr15y ago

One thing Meld cannot easily do (unless it's changed very recently) is manually align blocks of text when autoalignment fails.

I recommend Diffuse for that, and also for three-way merging: http://diffuse.sourceforge.net/

I do join in recommending Meld for your everyday diff/merge, though. :)

lt15y ago

I love Beyond Compare: http://www.scootersoftware.com/

Even though it's commercial I gladly payed for it. It's really fast, does a great job on aligning automatically, easily lets me isolate blocks or do manual align, has rules for comparing files, and I could go on.

mkramlich15y ago

I loved it too. Only Windows app I miss since switching to Mac/Linux only.

dragonquest15y ago

BC version 3 now comes with Linux support in nice little deb, rpm and tarred packages.

makmanalp15y ago

What about vimdiff, that's already installed on most (unix-based) computers?

http://andrejk.blogspot.com/2008/04/vimdiff-howto.html

burgerbrain15y ago

Agreed. The great part about vimdiff is that you can easily use it to rapidly make changes and view the diff of them. It's essential for cleaning up changes before a commit for me.

gnosis15y ago

vimdiff is nice, but suffers from one major deficiency. It can't do three-way diffs.

aerique15y ago

How does it compare to ediff? This has been my diff tool of choice lately but I'm always interested in improvements.

note: I use Emacs for many other things so that specific point is not a pro or con for me.

lelele15y ago

Never understood how Emacs users manage to compare two directories. Diffing with Emacs always seemed cumbersome to me. Would you please post a video of a directories diff session of yours? Thank you.

j_s15y ago

Plastic SCM's diff/merge tool has a unique feature that can be useful: moved code detection.

http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=24...

It is a newer commercial product with several rough edges, but now there's a "community edition" to try out (it's possible to use just the diff/merge tool without obtaining a license key to setup the server portion):

http://codicesoftware.blogspot.com/2010/11/building-plastic-...

gnosis15y ago

I'd try this if this was in the standard gentoo repository.

sqrt1715y ago

Does it support non-ASCII/non-UTF8 encodings now? meld's failure to do anything meaningful with files in other encodings (i.e., 95% of the sourcecode I have) made me go with diffuse even though meld looks slightly nicer.

qaexl15y ago

Does Diffuse have three-panel merge?

gnosis15y ago

Diffuse can do n-way merges. So, yes.

Unfortunately (for automation's sake), there doesn't seem to be any obvious way to specify a single default output file. So you need to manually save whichever file you merged in to, and then refuse at the prompt to save the rest.

1 more reply

eliben15y ago

Meld is nice, but I also prefer diffuse. I found its Hg and SVN integration more convenient

amjith15y ago

Old but still relevant: http://amjith.blogspot.com/2007/07/visual-diff-tools-in-linu...

qaexl15y ago

Meld is the only tool I know of that shows a 3-panel merge. That's the killer feature for me.

Now, if there were an OSX-native app that does 3-panel merges, I'd gladly switch off of Meld.

j_s15y ago

I believe the cross-platform (so semi-native) PlasticSCM's included xmerge has what you're looking for:

http://codicesoftware.blogspot.com/2010/07/xmerge-to-merge-r...

qaexl15y ago

Xmerge looks great. Too bad I'm on git.

1 more reply

naish15y ago

Araxis Merge might be what you are looking for (Professional version only).

http://www.araxis.com/merge/

Unfortunately, it is not inexpensive.

turtle415y ago

Diffmerge from sourcegear is free and runs natively on os x (in addition to win and Linux) and does 3 panel merges, as well as folder diffs pretty well.

kbd15y ago

kdiff3 works on mac

cookiecaper15y ago

I prefer Kompare: http://www.kde.org/applications/development/kompare/

gnosis15y ago

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the stable version is capable of 3-way merges.

Glad to see they're working on implementing that feature, though.

chanux15y ago

Thanks HN for giving me a tool I never realized I need.

buster15y ago

Ahh, meld. It's awesome! After searching for some good diff (visual) tools, i found that one and never had problems.

pbiggar15y ago

Does anyone know how to install this on Mac (preferably homebrew or macports)? It's killing me not having it.

anoncwd3415y ago

Can anyone post screenshots of Meld in Ubuntu 10.10?

edit: Just curious.

ifesdjeen15y ago

http://yfrog.com/h4ok4ep

ifesdjeen15y ago

I didn't notice any difference on 10.10 and previous versions... Why do you need screenshots?..

megamark1615y ago

And it's so easy to install! apt-get install meld.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

40 comments

prog15y ago

For Windows I found WinMerge to be quite useful: http://winmerge.org/

Luyt15y ago

alnayyir15y ago

Then why does their website make it look like shareware garbage? Yellow? Ow. :(

schumihan15y ago

I like winmerge. Even kdiff3 is not as useful as winmerge, IMHO.

http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/

acqq15y ago

Can they be even compared? KDiff3 merges based on the "common ancestor" (3 versions to the fourth) and I don't see in that feature in the screenshots of WinMerge?

1 more reply

angusgr15y ago

One thing Meld cannot easily do (unless it's changed very recently) is manually align blocks of text when autoalignment fails.

I recommend Diffuse for that, and also for three-way merging: http://diffuse.sourceforge.net/

I do join in recommending Meld for your everyday diff/merge, though. :)

lt15y ago

I love Beyond Compare: http://www.scootersoftware.com/

mkramlich15y ago

I loved it too. Only Windows app I miss since switching to Mac/Linux only.

dragonquest15y ago

BC version 3 now comes with Linux support in nice little deb, rpm and tarred packages.

makmanalp15y ago

What about vimdiff, that's already installed on most (unix-based) computers?

http://andrejk.blogspot.com/2008/04/vimdiff-howto.html

burgerbrain15y ago

Agreed. The great part about vimdiff is that you can easily use it to rapidly make changes and view the diff of them. It's essential for cleaning up changes before a commit for me.

gnosis15y ago

vimdiff is nice, but suffers from one major deficiency. It can't do three-way diffs.

aerique15y ago

How does it compare to ediff? This has been my diff tool of choice lately but I'm always interested in improvements.

note: I use Emacs for many other things so that specific point is not a pro or con for me.

lelele15y ago

Never understood how Emacs users manage to compare two directories. Diffing with Emacs always seemed cumbersome to me. Would you please post a video of a directories diff session of yours? Thank you.

j_s15y ago

Plastic SCM's diff/merge tool has a unique feature that can be useful: moved code detection.

http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=24...

http://codicesoftware.blogspot.com/2010/11/building-plastic-...

gnosis15y ago

I'd try this if this was in the standard gentoo repository.

sqrt1715y ago

qaexl15y ago

Does Diffuse have three-panel merge?

gnosis15y ago

Diffuse can do n-way merges. So, yes.

1 more reply

eliben15y ago

Meld is nice, but I also prefer diffuse. I found its Hg and SVN integration more convenient

amjith15y ago

Old but still relevant: http://amjith.blogspot.com/2007/07/visual-diff-tools-in-linu...

qaexl15y ago

Meld is the only tool I know of that shows a 3-panel merge. That's the killer feature for me.

Now, if there were an OSX-native app that does 3-panel merges, I'd gladly switch off of Meld.

j_s15y ago

I believe the cross-platform (so semi-native) PlasticSCM's included xmerge has what you're looking for:

http://codicesoftware.blogspot.com/2010/07/xmerge-to-merge-r...

qaexl15y ago

Xmerge looks great. Too bad I'm on git.

1 more reply

naish15y ago

Araxis Merge might be what you are looking for (Professional version only).

http://www.araxis.com/merge/

Unfortunately, it is not inexpensive.

turtle415y ago

Diffmerge from sourcegear is free and runs natively on os x (in addition to win and Linux) and does 3 panel merges, as well as folder diffs pretty well.

kbd15y ago

kdiff3 works on mac

cookiecaper15y ago

I prefer Kompare: http://www.kde.org/applications/development/kompare/

gnosis15y ago

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the stable version is capable of 3-way merges.

Glad to see they're working on implementing that feature, though.

chanux15y ago

Thanks HN for giving me a tool I never realized I need.

buster15y ago

Ahh, meld. It's awesome! After searching for some good diff (visual) tools, i found that one and never had problems.

pbiggar15y ago

Does anyone know how to install this on Mac (preferably homebrew or macports)? It's killing me not having it.

anoncwd3415y ago

Can anyone post screenshots of Meld in Ubuntu 10.10?

edit: Just curious.

ifesdjeen15y ago

http://yfrog.com/h4ok4ep

ifesdjeen15y ago

I didn't notice any difference on 10.10 and previous versions... Why do you need screenshots?..

megamark1615y ago

And it's so easy to install! apt-get install meld.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse