Diffing binary files in PlasticSCM through Beyond Compare
Posted by jpluimers on 2018/08/02
The diff engine in PlasticSCM is nice in appearance, but it lacks a lot of features for file types that Beyond Compare handles out of the box.
For instance, .RES files cannot be diffed:
--------------------------- Error --------------------------- Unsupported file types for binary diff. Only images are supported (JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP) --------------------------- OK ---------------------------
Luckily, in PlasticSCM, you can define which kinds of files are differenced by what diff tool:
- [WayBack] Beyond Compare Technical Support: PlasticSCM
- [WayBack] Plastic SCM blog: Setting up Plastic SCM with an external diff tool
The steps for binary files are these:
- In the toolbar on the left (see image on the right), click “Preferences”
- In the dialog, select “Diff tools”, then press the “Add” button:
- In the new dialog, follow the below steps
- Ensure “External diff tool” is selected
- In the filename, enter the location of
BComp.exe, which usually is"C:\Program Files\Beyond Compare 4\BComp.exe"(look in%ProgramFiles%\Beyond Compare 4or%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Beyond Compare 4for the exact location) followed by the two parameters (all three each enclosed by double parentheses), for instance:
"C:\Program Files\Beyond Compare 4\BComp.exe" "@sourcefile" "@destinationfile" - Select the extension to apply (in this case
.res)
- The list now ends with
.resfiles, but these are not applied because$binaryhas a higher preference:
- To fix this, press the “^” button (Up) once, so
.resgets in front of$binary:
- Then press the
OKbutton to confirm.
–jeroen
Nice comment thread at https://plus.google.com/+JeroenPluimers/posts/NHsVZ39HX8L
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
jpluimers said
Kevin Powick on G+ discussing Araxis Merge: https://plus.google.com/+JeroenPluimers/posts/NHsVZ39HX8L
+Jeroen Wiert Pluimers I suppose the one of the main reasons was that when I switched to OSX around 2007, Beyond Compare was only available on Windows. Merge was born a Mac product and integrated well with other Mac tools. I’m sure BC works well today, and maybe I should revisit it, but Merge still works well for me.
jpluimers said
By Thomas Mueller on G+:
I have yet to find a different tool that can replace BeyondCompare. Once in a while somebody suggests I should use X instead, where X used to be WinDiff most of the time. I looked several times but it was never on par. BeyondCompare is easily worth the money.